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Review
. 2020 Mar;31(1):1-9.
doi: 10.1007/s13337-019-00563-0. Epub 2020 Jan 21.

DNA viruses and cancer: insights from evolutionary biology

Nitesh Vinodbhai Pandey  1
Affiliations
Review

DNA viruses and cancer: insights from evolutionary biology

Nitesh Vinodbhai Pandey. Virusdisease. 2020 Mar.

Abstract

When it comes to understanding the exact mechanisms behind the virus induced cancers, we have often turned to molecular biology. It would be fair to argue that our understanding of cancers caused by viruses has significantly improved since the isolation of Epstein-Barr virus from Burkitt's lymphoma. However they are some important questions that remain unexplored like what advantage do viruses derive by inducing carcinogenesis? Why do viruses code for the so called oncogenes? Why DNA viruses are disproportionately linked to cancers? These questions have been addressed from the lens of evolutionary biology in this review. The evolutionary analysis of virus induced cancer suggests that persistent strategy of infection could be a stable strategy for DNA viruses and also the main culprit behind their tendency to cause cancer. The framework presented in the review not only explains wider observations about cancer caused by viruses but also offers fresh predictions to test the hypothesis.

Keywords: Carcinogenesis; DNA viruses; Evolutionary ecology of cancers; Evolutionary medicine; Infectious causes of cancer; Persistent viral infections.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interestThe author declares that he does not have any conflict of interest.

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