Consensus on the role of human cytomegalovirus in glioblastoma
The human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and glioma symposium was convened on April 17, 2011 in Washington, DC, and was attended by oncologists and virologists involved in studying the relationship between HCMV and gliomas. The purpose of the meeting was to reach a consensus on the role of HCMV in the pathology of gliomas and to clarify directions for future research.
First, the group summarized data that describe how HCMV biology overlaps with the key pathways of cancer. Then, on the basis of published data and ongoing research,
a consensus was reached that there is sufficient evidence to conclude that HCMV sequences and viral gene expression exist in most, if not all, malignant gliomas, that HCMV could modulate the malignant phenotype in glioblastomas by interacting with key signaling pathways; and that HCMV could serve as a novel target for a variety of therapeutic strategies.
In summary, existing evidence supports an oncomodulatory role for HCMV in malignant gliomas, but future studies need to focus on determining the role of HCMV as a glioma-initiating event.
[So who was there?]
HCMV and gliomas symposium participants: James C. Alwine, Ph.D. (Cancer Biology and the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, School of Medicine, the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA), William J. Britt, M.D. (Pediatrics, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL), Kevin Cassady (Pediatrics, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL), Susan M. Chang, M.D. (Neurological Surgery, the University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA), E. Antonio Chiocca, M.D., Ph.D (Dardinger Neuro-Oncology Center, Neurological Surgery, James Cancer Hospital and the Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, OH), Charles S. Cobbs, M.D. (Neurological Surgery, the University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA; California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, San Francisco, CA), Kristine Dziurzynski, M.D.
(Neurosurgery, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX), Elizabeth A. Fortunato, Ph.D. (Biological Sciences, the University of Idaho Moscow, ID), Amy B. Heimberger, M.D. (Neurosurgery, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX), Robert F. Kalejta, Ph.D. (Institute for Molecular Virology and McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, the University of Wisconsin-Madison), Timothy F. Kowalik, Ph.D. (Microbiology and Physiological Systems, the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester, MA), Chang-Hyuk Kwon, Ph.D. (Dardinger Neuro-Oncology Center, Neurological Surgery, James Cancer Hospital and the Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, OH), Stuart R. McGregor Dallas, Ph.D. (Molecular Biology, Lewis Thomas Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ), Lisa Matlaf, Ph.D. (California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, San Francisco, CA), Duane Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D. (Neurosurgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC), Rick Price, M.D. (Dardinger Neuro-Oncology Center, Neurological Surgery, James Cancer Hospital and the Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, OH), Martine J. Smit, Ph.D. (Department Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands), Cecilia So¨ derberg-Naucler, M.D., Ph.D. (Medicine, Solna, Karolinska Institutet), and Liliana Soroceanu, Ph.D. (California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, San Francisco, CA).
Source
http://neuro-oncology.oxfordjournals.or ... t/14/3/246
Neuro Oncol (2012) 14 (3): 246-255. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/nor227 First published online: February 8, 2012
I am convinced CMV caused my father's GBM. Reading the long list of participant names from respected institutions I find very encouraging. Knowing the cause means we’re one step closer to a cure and prevention.