Does a new polyomavirus contribute to Merkel cell carcinoma.docVIP

Minireview Does a new polyomavirus contribute to Merkel cell carcinoma? Kelly M Garneski*, James A DeCaprio? and Paul Nghiem*? Addresses: *Departments of Medicine/Dermatology and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98109, USA. ?Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ?Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA. Correspondence: Paul Nghiem. Email: pnghiem@ Published: 17 June 2008 Genome Biology 2008, 9:228 (doi:10.1186/gb-2008-9-6-228) The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at /2008/9/6/228 ? 2008 BioMed Central Ltd Abstract A new technique designed to hunt for non-human transcripts has identified a novel SV40-like virus present in the majority of Merkel cell carcinomas. Here we examine what it will take to determine whether or not this virus contributes to carcinogenesis. Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an uncommon and aggressive skin cancer. More than one-third of MCC patients will die from this cancer, making it twice as lethal as malignant melanoma [1]. The reported incidence of MCC has tripled over the past 20 years because of improved detection and a rise in the number of elderly and immunosuppressed indi- viduals who are at risk [2]. It is estimated that there will be 1,500 new cases of MCC this year in the United States [3]. reports of MCC regression following restoration of immune function [8,9]. These intriguing clues have led many to suspect an infectious contribution to MCC. A new technique finds a new virus Patrick Moore and Yuan Chang are well known for their discovery of the Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) [10]. Nearly a decade ago, they became interested in MCC because of its strong links to immunosuppression. In a recent pap