Of Viruses and Cancer

I came across an interesting story in New York Times yesterday. The story, “Human Papillomavirus, 1985,” describes Dr. Peyton Rous’ conjecture and eventual demonstration that viruses can cause cancer. He demonstrated this fact through his work with solid tumors in chickens back in 1914.

Seventy years later, scientists would still be trying to prove that viruses cause cancer in humans. In 1983, Dr. Harald zur Hausen, definitively connected infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV) with cervical cancer. Indeed, he discovered and made HPV16 and 18, the two strains most commonly associated with cervical cancer, available to the scientific community for vaccine development. More than two decades later (2006), a vaccine for HPV infection was approved for use in girls and young women ages 9 to 26 years of age. Given that 5% of all cancers worldwide are caused by HPV, the development and widespread use of the vaccine will eventually save tens of thousands of lives every year.

While most of us have never heard of Drs. Rous and zur Hausen, we clearly owe them a debt of gratitude. I’m happy to say that both received the Nobel Prize for their work.

Particularly among Vietnamese American women, cervical cancer rates are disproportionately high. In fact, rates of cervical cancer are several-fold higher among Vietnamese women, when compared to all other racial/ethnic groups. Efforts to educate and vaccinate the Vietnamese and other Asian American and Pacific Islander communities are warranted.

Interestingly, the article did not mention the other virus that causes cancer in humans: the hepatitis B virus (HBV). HBV infection is conclusively linked with liver cancer. Given the disproportionately high rates of HBV infection among Asian Americans, it is not surprising that liver cancer rates are much higher for Asian Americans, when compared to non-Hispanic whites. The 1982 development of a vaccine to prevent hepatitis B infection by Dr. Baruch Blumberg is another milestone in the history of cancer prevention, but perhaps that is a story for another time.

- Doug Hirano, MPH, APCA Executive Director