Grant: Op Gr: Spark Grants in Novel Technologies in Cancer Prevention & Early Detection

Betaretroviruses are known to cause mammalian breast cancer but the role these agents play in human disease is unknown. Patients with breast cancer have been shown to have antibody reactivity to a characterized human betaretrovirus (HBRV). To study if HBRV may be causally linked with breast cancer, we will study serum samples of patients who donated their blood samples before developing breast cancer, and then assess breast cancer samples and peripheral blood for evidence of viral infection. My laboratory has characterized a human betaretrovirus in patients with liver disease. We have constructed diagnostic assays to detect the virus and to identify immune responses to viral infection. Others have provided preliminary data suggesting a role of this virus in patients with lymphoma and breast cancer that has not been translated to common knowledge. We therefore plan to use our diagnostic assays to study whether this virus is truly implicated in the development of breast cancer. To do this, we will be testing prospectively collected serum using an HBRV ELISA assay which is an in-house diagnostic assay. We will also catalogue the prevalence of infection in breast cancer patients and age-matched controls, using a cellular immune assay, and then study whether the virus integrates into breast cancer samples.  The confirmed association of virus with the development of a specific cancer has important implications for (i) the development of diagnostic biomarkers, (ii) disease prognosis and (iii) the development of management schemes to prevent the development of cancer. Two relevant examples include the development of human papilloma virus and hepatitis B virus vaccines which help prevent cervical and liver cancer, respectively.