Immune System and Cancer

Do Microbes Cause Alzheimer's Disease, Heart Disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis and AIDS?

U.S. News & World Report, January 3-10, 2000
by Jennifer Couzin

Yuan Chang and Patrick Moore have found that the immune system, which prevents infection, is intimately connected to the tumor suppressor system.  If the immune system is disrupted by a pathogen that might disrupt the tumor defenses, causing cancer. 

"We're exposed to viruses all the time," stated Moore.  "Are they causing disease, or are they just sitting there?  Can they cause disease under the right circumstances?"  Linking a slow-acting, sometimes harmless virus to a deadly disease is the formidable task for Chang and Moore.  Especially since it's likely that genetics and environment also play a role.

In 1993 Chang and Moore discovered a virus that causes one form of cancer.  An Australian scientist proved that a cupful of H. pylori bacteria causes stomach ulcers by drinking it!  Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, schizophrenia and rheumatoid arthritis have joined the growing list of ailments caused in part by infectious agents. 

After poring over epidemiology papers, Moore became convinced that microbes cause Kaposi's sarcoma, a skin cancer seen in Africa and AIDS patients.  Moore and Chang stumbled onto unidentified DNA strands that appeared in Kaposi's sarcoma tumors but not in healthy tissue.  This DNA has been dubbed Kaposi's sarcoma-assoicated herpes virus (KSHV) - one of a handful of viruses causally linked to human cancer.

Cancer Fatigue