Infections Causing Human Cancer

Harald zur Hausen studied medicine at the Universities of Bonn, Hamburg and Dusseldorf, gaining his MD in 1960. He was a research fellow at the University of Dusseldorf and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, before being appointed assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania in 1968. He joined the University of Wurzburg one year later, initially as a senior scientist and then as a private lecturer. From 1972 to 1977 he was Professor of Virology at the University of Erlangen-Nurnberg, and then at the University of Freiburg until 1983. Thereafter, he was appointed Scientific Director of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg until his retirement in 2003. Professor zur Hausen has been a member of various research organizations, academies of science, and scientific boards. He was President of OECI, Vice-Chairman of the German American Academic Council and Vice-President of the Helmholtz Society of German National Research Centers. Among others, he received the Robert Koch Award, the Charles S. Mott Prize of the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Award, the German Cancer Award, the Prince Mahidol Award of Thailand and the Federal Order of Merit, as well as six honorary degrees in six different countries. He is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Cancer and on the editorial board of several scientific journals and has organized or co-organized a number of international meetings.

1 Historical Review.1.1 The Early Period (1898-1911).1.2 Frustration and Successes (1912-1950).1.3 The Period from 1950 to 1965.1.4 A First Human Tumorvirus?1.5 The Difficult 1970s.1.6 The Re-Emergence of a Concept.References.2 The Quest for Causality.2.1 Infectious Agents as Direct Carcinogens.2.2 Infectious Agents as Indirect Carcinogens.References.3 Tumors Linked to Infections: Some General Aspects.3.1 Tumor Types Linked to Infections.3.2 Global Contributions of Infections to Human Cancers.3.3 Host Interactions with Potentially Carcinogenic Infections: The CIF Concept.References.4 Herpesviruses and Oncogenesis.4.1 Alphaherpesvirinae.4.2 Betaherpesvirinae.4.3 Gammaherpesvirinae (Lymphocryptoviruses).4.4 Rhadinoviruses.References.5 Papillomavirus Infections: A Major Cause of Human Cancers.5.1 Introduction.5.2 The Concept of Cellular Interfering Cascades: Immunological, Intracellular and Paracrine Host Factors Influencing Viral Oncogene Expression or Function.5.3 Cancers Linked to HPV Infections.5.4 The Role of Cofactors.5.5 Preventive Vaccination.5.6 Therapeutic Vaccination.5.7 Therapy.References.6 Hepadnaviruses.6.1 Hepatitis B.References.7 Flaviviruses.7.1 Hepatitis C Virus.References.8 Retrovirus Family.8.1 Human T-Lymphotropic Retrovirus (HTLV-1) .8.2 Human T-Lymphotropic Retrovirus-2 (HTLV-2).8.3 Human Endogenous Retroviruses.8.4 Gibbon Ape Leukemia Virus and Simian Sarcoma Virus.References.9 Other Virus Infections Possibly Involved in Human Cancers.9.1 Polyomaviruses (JC, BK, and SV40).References.10 Helicobacter, Chronic Inflammation, and Cancer (James G. Fox, Timothy C. Wang, and Julie Parsonnet).10.1 Discovery, Taxonomy, and Genomics.10.2 Life Cycle, Specificity, and Virulence Determinants in Cancer Development.10.3 Prevention of H. pylori-Induced Cancer.10.4 Animal Models.10.5 Virulence Determinants of Enterohepatic Helicobacter spp.10.6 Enterohepatic Helicobacter spp.: Are they Co-Carcinogens?References.11 Parasites and Human Cancers.11.1 Schistosoma Infections.11.2 Infection with Liver Flukes (Opisthorchis viverrini, O. felineus, Clonorchis sinensis).References.12 Cancers with a Possible Infectious Etiology.12.1 Leukemias and Lymphomas.12.2 Human Breast Cancer.12.3 Other Human Cancers Possibly Linked to Infectious Events.References.