Premium
Type B virus and human breast cancer
Author(s) -
Henderson Brian E.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(197410)34:8+<1386::aid-cncr2820340808>3.0.co;2-5
Subject(s) - breast cancer , medicine , virus , cancer , transmission (telecommunications) , etiology , family history , oncology , breast milk , human breast , physiology , virology , biology , biochemistry , electrical engineering , engineering
In recent years, virus‐like particles have been observed in milk from women with a family history of breast cancer. Reverse transcriptase enzymatic activity characteristic of RNA tumor viruses also was found in the same milk specimens. This laboratory evidence suggesting milk transmission of a human breast cancer virus conflicted with prior epidemiologic data which indicated no increased breast cancer risk associated with the maternal line or with being breast fed. On the assumption that a milk agent could be etiologically important in breast cancer with onset at a young age, we recently reevaluated the epidemiologic factors relating to possible maternal transmission. The results of this case‐controlled study confirmed earlier observations. In addition, more recent laboratory studies have not shown a consistent relationship between the detection of virus‐like particles in human milk and a history of breast cancer. If viruses are involved in the etiology of human breast cancer, vertical transmission through genetic mechanism seems more consistent with available data.