title: Oncogenes and RNA splicing of human tumor viruses.
abstract: Approximately 10.8% of human cancers are associated with infection by an oncogenic virus. These viruses include human papillomavirus (HPV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV), human T-cell leukemia virus 1 (HTLV-1), Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV). These oncogenic viruses, with the exception of HCV, require the host RNA splicing machinery in order to exercise their oncogenic activities, a strategy that allows the viruses to efficiently export and stabilize viral RNA and to produce spliced RNA isoforms from a bicistronic or polycistronic RNA transcript for efficient protein translation. Infection with a tumor virus affects the expression of host genes, including host RNA splicing factors, which play a key role in regulating viral RNA splicing of oncogene transcripts. A current prospective focus is to explore how alternative RNA splicing and the expression of viral oncogenes take place in a cell- or tissue-specific manner in virus-induced human carcinogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Tumor Virus RNA Biology Section, Gene Regulation and Chromosome Biology Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health , Frederick, MD 21702, USA.
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ajiro
authors.affiliation: Tumor Virus RNA Biology Section, Gene Regulation and Chromosome Biology Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health , Frederick, MD 21702, USA.
authors.forename: Zhi-Ming
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Zheng
keywords: EBV; HBV; HCV; HPV; HTLV-1; KSHV; MCV; RNA splicing