title: Treating cancer as an infectious disease--viral antigens as novel targets for treatment and potential prevention of tumors of viral etiology.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nearly 20% of human cancers worldwide have an infectious etiology with the most prominent examples being hepatitis B and C virus-associated hepatocellular carcinoma and human papilloma virus-associated cervical cancer. There is an urgent need to find new approaches to treatment and prevention of virus-associated cancers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Viral antigens have not been previously considered as targets for treatment or prevention of virus-associated cancers. We hypothesized that it was possible to treat experimental HPV16-associated cervical cancer (CC) and Hepatitis B-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by targeting viral antigens expressed on cancer cells with radiolabeled antibodies to viral antigens. Treatment of experimental CC and HCC tumors with (188)Re-labeled mAbs to E6 and HBx viral proteins, respectively, resulted in significant and dose-dependent retardation of tumor growth in comparison with untreated mice or mice treated with unlabeled antibodies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This strategy is fundamentally different from the prior uses of radioimmunotherapy in oncology, which targeted tumor-associated human antigens and promises increased specificity and minimal toxicity of treatment. It also raises an exciting possibility to prevent virus-associated cancers in chronically infected patients by eliminating cells infected with oncogenic viruses before they transform into cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Xing Guo
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ekaterina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Revskaya
authors.forename: Ruth A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Bryan
authors.forename: Howard D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Strickler
authors.forename: Robert D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Burk
authors.forename: Arturo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Casadevall
authors.forename: Ekaterina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dadachova
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000737:chemistry; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000821:virology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005260:Female; D006505:Hepatitis / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000379:methods; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D008954:Models, Biological; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology*; D027383:Papillomaviridae / Q000378:metabolism; D016499:Radioimmunotherapy / Q000379:methods; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral