title: Infection, immunity, and cancer.
abstract: A significant percentage of human cancers worldwide are associated with infections due to known viruses, including human papillomaviruses (cervical cancer and other skin cancers), human T-lymphotropic viruses (adult T-cell leukemias and lymphomas in endemic areas), hepatitis B virus (liver cancer), and Epstein-Barr virus (Burkitt lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma). The fraction of human cancers attributable to infection may now need to be revised in light of the fact that new viral associations have been discovered and other nonviral associations have been identified. This article addresses the increasingly recognized role of infectious agents as precipitants of human neoplasia and the possibility that novel diagnostic, therapeutic, and chemopreventive strategies may emanate directly from research directed at identifying and understanding these agents.
authors.affiliation: Divisions of Experimental Pathology and Clinical Microbiology, Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Foundation, Rochester, Minn., USA.
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Persing
authors.forename: F G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Prendergast
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000150:complications; D020031:Epstein-Barr Virus Infections / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000150:complications; D016480:Helicobacter pylori; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000150:complications; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000150:complications; D019288:Herpesvirus 8, Human; D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology*; D027383:Papillomaviridae; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000150:complications; D010272:Parasitic Diseases / Q000150:complications; D012192:Retroviridae Infections / Q000150:complications; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000150:complications