ABSTRACT
Since the initial descriptions of Peyton Rous in 2011 demonstrating that a sarcoma could be induced in chickens with a cell free extract, there has been an increasing interest in the role of viruses in human malignancies. To date, a variety of viruses have been demonstrated to result in malignancy in humans, including, Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), human papilloma virus (HPV), Kaposi’s sarcoma herpes virus (KSHV), human T lymphotrophic virus 1 (HTLV-1), among others. This chapter focuses on the potential role of polyoma virus in the pathogenesis of brain tumors, including glioma and medulloblastoma. Insights obtained from the molecular mechanisms underpinning the malignant transformation of cells of neural lineage are likely broadly applicable to other forms of cancer.
