CMV virus in the Brain

[Guest guest]

Virus in the Brain; January 2009; Scientific American Magazine; by

Melinda Wenner; 3 Page(s)

More and more in recent years, cancer biologists are pointing their

fingers at viruses. Human papillomavirus, they found, causes cervical

cancer; hepatitis B induces liver cancer; and Epstein-Barr virus has

been implicated in lymphoma. Most recently, scientists discovered that

malignant brain tumors called glioblastoma multiforme, the late-stage

version of the cancer that has afflicted Senator Kennedy of

Massachusetts, are almost always teeming with cytomegalovirus (CMV), a

common, typically harmless herpesvirus. Although the nature of the

association is still a mystery, researchers are already taking advantage

of the link to find new cancer treatments.

The saga began in the late 1990s, when Cobbs, a neurosurgeon

then at the University of California, San Francisco, started pondering

the link between inflammation and brain cancer. Malignant tumors are

often associated with abnormal immune activity, and he wanted to know

why. " Is it just something that happens out of the blue, or is it

possible that there's something maybe driving that inflammatory

cascade? " he recalls wondering.