Breast Cancer Virus

1936?! Are you kidding me?! I think our country may need to reassess the directions in which we take our cancer research.

Brilliant question! The geographic variation of the mouse that carries the virus is superimposable upon the geographic variation in the incidence of breast cancer. Thus, in areas of the world where we find high rates of infestation with the mouse that carries the virus, we find high rates of breast cancer in women.

There are areas in Asia and Japan where this mouse is quite uncommon.

This is not final proof, but very interesting and corroborating epidemiologic data.

Research studies indicate that there is, indeed, a human virus (HMTV) and it is 95-98% similar to the mouse virus (MMTV) - suggesting they are really the same virus.

Cats become infected with the virus from infected mice.

There are some scientists who think humans can become infected from mice or cats.

Also, MMTV is passed in seminal fluid to infect female mice. We ought to see if there is any evidence of HMTV in human seminal fluid.

Obviously, there are many questions to answer - all of them interesting and important!

Good question: likely there is more than one virus. Certainly the human mammary tumor virus tops the list, but human papilloma virus may also play a role. And it wouldn't surprise me if there are other viruses at work as well.

Here is a link to the Library I created at The PInk Squadron (thepinksquadron.org), an online registry of women interested in issues related to the breast cancer virus.

It is a good starter list of peer-reviewed articles on MMTV and HMTV.

http://www.thepinksquadron.org/research-library/37-bibliography

A convergence of compelling scientific studies performed by multiple scientists from various academic centers around the world over the past seven decades: evidence of the human mammary tumor virus, HMTV, has been found in approximately 40% of all breast cancer specimens examined. It has been found in 60% of pregnancy-associated breast cancer, 62% of male breast cancer, and repeatedly found in 75% of inflammatory breast cancer. When it is found in a breast cancer specimen, the surrounding normal tissue of the breast shows no evidence of the virus, suggesting a causal relationship between the virus and the cancer. Women whose tumors show evidence of the virus have antibodies to it 95% of the time; whereas normal, healthy women have antibodies to the virus less than 5% of the time. The data go on and on, but the conclusion I have come to after reading the world's literature over the past five years, and keeping up with new papers published all the time, is that HMTV sure looks like a virus that causes breast cancer in humans.

A retrovirus, like HIV, that is found in mice. It causes breast cancer in 95% of mice infected with it. A similar virus, the human mammary tumor virus, has been found in approximately 40% of human breast cancer specimens.

Scientists have known about both the breast cancer virus as well as a vaccine to prevent and to cure for many years. Sadly, most of the reasearch lacks funding, so it may take many more years for women to benefit from either. To learn more about the theories and research, please visit http://elynjacobs.blogspot.com/2011/07/why-race-is-going-in-wrong-direction.html. In this blog I present links to several studies currently being done. It is my hope that these brilliant researchers get the funding needed to test their theories.