Experiment Suggests AIDS Virus Gene Causes Cancer
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MONTREAL — Mice given an AIDS virus gene developed an AIDS-related cancer, suggesting the virus itself may cause cancer, leading researcher Dr. Robert Gallo said.
Gallo, one of the discoverers of the AIDS virus, spoke at the Fifth International Conference on AIDS, which ended Friday.
His studies of the cancer, called Kaposi’s sarcoma, offer one possible explanation for the origin of the disease in AIDS patients.
Others have evidence that Kaposi’s sarcoma may be caused by a virus other than AIDS, but Gallo’s work suggests otherwise.
He reported a study showing the cancer developed in mice that were genetically engineered to contain an AIDS virus gene called tat. The tat gene is a kind of supercharger that speeds up replication of the AIDS virus.
The mice carrying the tat gene developed Kaposi’s sarcoma, but the cancer did not arise in the cells carrying the gene. It arose from other cells.
That suggests the gene triggers production of some biochemical factor that causes the cancer.
He also showed that certain Kaposi’s sarcoma cells called spindle cells release “a whole series of biological molecules that allow us to create KS in a mouse.”
If the work proves correct, it offers the possibility that drugs could be designed to interfere with these molecules and thus treat or prevent Kaposi’s sarcoma, Gallo said.
