Volume 233, Issue 5 pp. 4000-4014
REVIEW ARTICLE
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Role of viruses in gastrointestinal cancer

Habibollah Mirzaei

Habibollah Mirzaei

Department of Virology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

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Hossein Goudarzi

Hossein Goudarzi

Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

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Gita Eslami

Gita Eslami

Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

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Ebrahim Faghihloo

Corresponding Author

Ebrahim Faghihloo

Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Correspondence

Ebrahim Faghihloo, Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Email: [email protected]

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First published: 19 September 2017
Citations: 31

Abstract

Gastrointestinal cancers are a global public health problem, which represent a vast majority of all cancer-caused deaths in both men and women. On the other hand, viral pathogens have been long implicated as etiological factors in the onset of certain human cancers, including gastrointestinal tumors. In this regard, Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), and John Cunningham Virus (JCV) have been more strongly suggested to be involved in gastrointestinal carcinogenesis; so that, the association of HPV with oropharyngeal and anal cancers and also the association of EBV with gastric cancer have been etiologically confirmed by epidemiological and experimental investigations. Although, the association of other viruses is less evident, but may rely on co-factors for their oncogenic roles. Therefore, to improve the prevention and treatment of these classes of cancer, their association with viral agents as potential risk factors should be investigated with care. In this respect, the present review has focused on the existing literature on the subject of viral involvement in gastrointestinal tumorgenesis, by covering and discussing various gastrointestinal cancers, corresponding viral agents and their oncogenic aspects and then summarizing evidences either supporting or rejecting a causal role of these pathogens in gastrointestinal malignancies.

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