Abstract
RECENT observations have again drawn attention to a possible viral aetiology for certain types of cancer. Among these observations are: the presence of RNA dependent DNA polymerase (reverse transcriptase) in human leukaemic cells1; the presence of viral particles in the milk of Parsi women of Bombay and the concurrent presence of reverse transcriptase in the same samples of milk that contain the virus particles2; the leukaemic transformation of engrafted marrow cells in vivo3; and the induction of lymphoma and leukaemia in non-human primates with Herpesvirus saimiri4,5. These observations suggest that for the “cure” of certain types of cancer, drugs with activity against oncogenic virus will have to be combined with currently used antitumour agents, or that interferon (or interferon inducers) with antiviral and anti-tumour activity will have to be used6,7. Another alternative would be to combine the essential moieties of antiviral agents with the necessary moieties of molecules having antitumour activity in the hope that the resulting compound would have both activities.
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