Screen LibraryCancer virus hunters : a history of tumor virology /
"Worldwide, approximately one-fifth of human cancers are caused by tumor viruses, with hepatitis B virus and HPV being the leading culprits. While the explosive growth in molecular biology in the late twentieth century is well known, the role that the study of tumor viruses has played in drivin...
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| Main Authors: | |
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| Published: |
Johns Hopkins University Press,
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| Publisher Address: | Baltimore, Maryland : |
| Publication Dates: | 2022. |
| Literature type: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | |
| Summary: |
"Worldwide, approximately one-fifth of human cancers are caused by tumor viruses, with hepatitis B virus and HPV being the leading culprits. While the explosive growth in molecular biology in the late twentieth century is well known, the role that the study of tumor viruses has played in driving many of the greatest breakthroughs is not. Without the insights gained by studying tumor viruses, many significant theoretical advancements over the last four decades in cellular and molecular biology would not have been made. More practically, the study of tumor viruses has saved thousands, if not millions, of lives. In Cancer Virus Hunters, Gregory J. Morgan traces the high points in the development of tumor virology, from Peyton Rous's pioneering work on chicken tumors in 1909 to the successful development of an HPV vaccine for cervical cancer in 2006. Morgan offers a novel approach to understanding the interconnectedness of a long series of biomedical breakthroughs, including those that led to seven Nobel prizes. Among other advances, Morgan describes and contextualizes the science that prompted the discoveries of reverse transcriptase, RNA splicing, the tumor suppressor p53, the vaccine for hepatitis B, and the HIV test. He also explores how "cancer virus hunters" have demonstrated the virtue of beginning with a simple system, even when investigating a complex disease like cancer."-- |
| Carrier Form: | xi, 373 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: |
9781421444017 1421444011 |
| Index Number: | QR372 |
| CLC: | R730.231 |
| Call Number: | R730.231/M848 |
| Contents: | Introduction. The untold story of how a century of tumor virology changed biomedicine -- The beginnings / Peyton Rous and chickens / Richard Shope and rabbits, and John J. Bittner and mice -- True believer / Ludwik Gross, Sarah Stewart, Bernice Eddy, and polyoma virus -- The importance of measurement / Renato Dulbecco, Marguerite Vogt, and the rise of quantitative animal virology -- Cell lines and cat leukemia / Michael Stoker, Bill Jarrett, and the early fruit of the Glasgow Institute of Virology -- Insights from the field / Anthony Epstein, Denis Burkitt, Werner and Gertrude Henle, and the first human tumor virus -- Persistence despite political challenges / Jan Svoboda and tumor virology behind the Iron Curtain -- A surprising discovery in the blood / Baruch Blumberg, Harvey Alter, and Hepatitis B virus -- A breakthrough and a new tool / Howard Temin, David Baltimore, and reverse transcriptase -- The molecular-genetic basis of cancer / Michael Bishop, Harold Varmus, Dominique Stehelin, and hunting of the oncogene src -- Mecca for tumor virology / James Watson, Joe Sambrook, SV40, and the growth of tumor virology at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory -- Control mechanisms beyond Viruses / Louise Chow, Phillip Sharp, Richard Roberts, and the discovery of RNA splicing in adenovirus -- A second cancer gene / Edward Scolnick, Robert Weinberg, Geoffrey Cooper, Michael Wigler, and the oncogene ras -- A molecular brake on cancer / David Lane, Arnold Levine, and the tumor suppressor p53 -- Unplanned practical payoffs / Robert Gallo, Luc Montagnier, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, HTLV, and HIV -- Planned practical payoffs / Harald zur Hausen, Jian Zhou, Ian Frazer, Douglas Lowy, John Schiller, HPV, and the cervical cancer vaccine -- Conclusion. Patterns in a century of research. |