Epstein-Barr virus in breast cancer tissue and resistance to paclitaxel

Camila · 06-22-2011, 05:25 AM

Hi Jackie,

Thanks for your quick reply. Funny you mention family cancer - I come from a HNPCC or Lynch syndrome family. My mum died from breast cancer and all her 5 sisters and brother (and father!) died from cancer too. This is why my BC was picked up early - because I have always kept up with my screenings due to the family history. Unfortunately I haven't been able to have genetic testing yet as I have to find a living relative who has had cancer, and sadly, I can't find anyone still alive. I see my cardiologist again tomorrow and I'm sure he will find I have improved as I can talk now without running out of breath. I sure plan to ask him if HE thinks I could ever go back onto herceptin (although I agree it might be some time yet).

Take care
Camila

Jackie07 · 06-22-2011, 05:34 AM

My family seem to fall into the HNPCC category also. Mother is a 13 year Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma survivor, 2nd Brother (10 years my senior) is a 3-year colon cancer survivor. My brain tumor has been with me probably my whole life.

Be sure to try Tai-chi...

Jackie07 · 06-22-2011, 05:41 AM

An abstract of the most recent research article on EBV:

Front Microbiol. 2011;2:5. Epub 2011 Jan 26.
Epstein-barr virus, the immune system, and associated diseases.

Chen MR.
Source

Epstein-Barr Virus Group, Graduate Institute and Department of Microbiology, National Taiwan University Taipei, Taiwan.

Abstract

Host immune system is designed (or evolved) to fight against different pathogens. Many viruses infect the immune cells for the propagation of new progenies, thus the infection may modulate the host immune homeostasis.

It has been more than 45 years since the discovery of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) from a Burkitt's lymphoma derived cell line. The ability of EBV to transform primary B cells in vitro leads to the suggestion for its oncogenic potential. However, except the clear understanding of the role of EBV in post-transplantation lymphoproliferative disease, it remains ambiguous why such a ubiquitous virus causes malignant diseases only in a very small subset of individuals. Possible explanation is that EBV may cooperate with other environmental and host genetic factors and lead to the development of EBV associated neoplastic diseases.

In addition to infecting B cells, recent studies revealed that EBV may impact host immune system more broadly than previously thought, for example the development of regulatory NKT subsets. Instead of an intensive review, this article aims to provide a linkage to recent advances on the interplay between EBV and host immune system and to inspire further studies on EBV related diseases, especially autoimmune diseases.