Sharing food with loved ones is often seen as a way to strengthen relationships, but a study published in the journal Nature has found that a virus primarily spread through saliva can lead to cancer. The virus is called Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which can be transmitted through activities such as kissing, sharing drinks or food, and affects over 90% of the world’s population. EBV is responsible for infectious mononucleosis or mono and other infections, and it may come with no symptoms.
While most EBV infections are small and brief, the virus can remain dormant and reactive later, leading to long-lasting latent infections. Such infections are associated with various cancers and several chronic inflammatory disorders. Researchers from the University of California San Diego have found how EBV can exploit genomic weaknesses to trigger cancer while reducing the body’s ability to suppress it. The virus induces cleavage of human chromosome 11, causing genomic instability that activates an oncogene that causes leukaemia and reduces the function of a major tumour suppressor.
The researchers discovered that a viral protein called EBNA1, which remains in cells infected with EBV, binds to a fragile site on human chromosome 11, triggering chromosomal breakage. Analysing whole-genome sequencing data for 2,439 cancers across 38 tumour types from the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes project, they found that cancer tumours with detectable EBV had higher levels of chromosome 11 abnormalities, including 100% of head and neck cancer cases.
The findings could help identify people who are at risk of developing latent infection-associated diseases, especially since the EBV virus is typically harmless for most people, according to the study’s first author, Julia Li. Identifying susceptible individuals would still be an ongoing effort for a ubiquitous virus that does not pose a threat to the majority of the human population.
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