Study: Common Virus Linked to Colon Cancer

Temple University researchers have discovered a link between a virus most people carry in their respiratory system and colon cancer, suggesting a possible role for the virus in development of the cancer.

Kamel Khalili, professor and director of Temple’s Center for Neurovirology and Cancer Biology, said the JC virus -- carried by around 90 percent of individuals as a harmless infective agent in the respiratory system -- was present in 22 out of 27 malignant colorectal tumors studied.

What this study shows, Khalili reported in the journal Cancer Research, is that “we have a virus in our body which may be involved in causing tumors.”

Khalili said the question now facing researchers is whether or not the JC virus actually causes cancer; whether the cancer forms because of other elements and the virus helped as a co-factor; or whether something else causes the cancer and the presence of the virus is a mere coincidence.

But if the virus is subsequently linked to development of the cancer, Khalili said researchers "can start developing strategies and vaccines against the JC virus, which will hopefully lead to the prevention of the tumors it may induce."

Other Sources: Temple University, Cancer Research