Searching for human oncoviruses: Histories, challenges, and opportunities

Oncoviruses contribute significantly to cancer burden. A century of tumor virological studies have led to the discovery of seven well‐accepted human oncoviruses, cumulatively responsible for approximately 15% of human cancer cases. Virus‐caused cancers are largely preventable through vaccination. Identifying additional oncoviruses and virus‐caused tumors will advance cancer prevention and precision medicine, benefiting affected individuals, and society as a whole. The historic success of finding human oncoviruses has provided a unique lesson for directing new research efforts in the post‐sequencing era. Combing the experiences from these pioneer studies with emerging high‐throughput techniques will certainly accelerate new discovery and advance our knowledge of the remaining human oncoviruses.