According to researchers, a new virus has been found in human prostate tumors, but its connection with prostate cancer is obscure and needs more research.
Due to a statement of Dr. Eric Klein, a head of urologic oncology at the Cleveland Clinic’s Glickman Urologic Institute "this is a virus that has never been seen in humans before. This is consistent with previous epidemiologic and genetic research that has suggested that prostate cancer may result from chronic inflammation, perhaps as a response to infection."
The virus, which is significantly related to viruses detected in mice, has never before been found in humans. Scientists at the University of California in San Francisco, and the Cleveland Clinic detected it thanks to the same DNA-hunting "virus chip" that was used to confirm the identity of the SARS virus three years ago.
The discovery was revealed at an American Society of Clinical Oncology prostate symposium in San Francisco. A complete report is to be published in the journal PloS Pathogens.
The virus was detected more frequently in human prostate tumors with two copies of the RNASEL gene mutations than in than in those with one or no mutation. RNASEL is an essential defense against viruses. According to a previous speculations of the scientists, a virus may be linked to some types of prostate cancer in male patients with mutated RNASEL genes.
Klein and other scientists claim that the discovery further validates the use of the virus chip to find unknown viruses, and to find out more about viral causes of illness.
"The power of the virus chip resides in its ability to simultaneously screen for all viruses, without preconceptions or bias. In the case of these prostate tissues, no one would have suspected a virus of this class," stated Joe DeRisi, UCSF researcher who developed the virus chip.
