protecting your prostate

[Michaelangelica]

Scientific American has an article this week about Prostate cancer having a viral connection.

With all these viral "causes'' for cancer popping up of late, wouldn't it mean that there should be a higher rate of cancer among the medical profession/fraternity?

September 7, 2009 | 11 comments
Retrovirus Linked to Aggressive Prostate Cancer
Possibly joining the ranks of virus-linked cancers, virulent prostate cancers have shown a common thread: the XMRV gammaretrovirus
By Katherine Harmon

The cause of prostate cancer, which infects one in six U.S. men in their lifetimes, has long eluded researchers. A new study presents a convincing argument that prostate cancer, like some other cancers, including cervical cancer, lymphoma and sarcomas, might be linked to a virus.

Researchers, reporting in a study that will be published online tomorrow in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the retrovirus xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) was present in about a quarter of cancerous prostate cells—and just 6 percent of control cells, which suggests a possible relationship. Additionally, "the virus is more likely to be present the more aggressive the prostate cancer is," says Ila Singh, a co-author of the study and an associate professor in pathology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

some 15 percent of cancers are now known to be linked to viruses. . . .

For such a common cancer—one that kills 3 percent of men worldwide—this is the first viral link to be found. "It's the only viral candidate for prostate cancer," says Singh.

The virus is a gammaretrovirus, which has been known to cause cancer in some animals, including rodents, cats and monkeys, but had not previously been found in humans. . . .

Singh and her team also determined that the virus is not linked to a genetic mutation, . .

. . . "We have shown that the virus is actually present," Singh says. Her team's next step is to figure out whether this correlation is in fact causation.

. . .

Researchers are still unsure of the mechanisms at work in XMRV and how men might get it in the first place. Discovering how the virus is transmitted might help . . .

Finding the route of transmission might also pave the way for preventative measures.
. . .
If the virus does indeed turn out to be the culprit, at least behind the most aggressive forms of prostate cancer, the discovery might not mean much for men who have already been diagnosed. "It means a lot more, probably, for prevention," Singh says. However, she notes, "If you could diagnose the virus before the person has cancer, that may be something." Future testing technologies could also be useful for screening donated blood, which is already tested for lymphoma and leukemia-causing agents.

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http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...sc=WR_20090908