Hsu T Y, Fourel G, Etiemble J, Tiollais P, Buendia M A
Unité de Recombinaison et Expression Génétique (INSERM U.163, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
Gastroenterol Jpn. 1990 Sep;25 Suppl 2:43-8. doi: 10.1007/BF02779927.
A total of 33 hepatocellular carcinomas, induced in woodchucks by chronic infection with woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV), a virus closely related to the human hepatitis B virus, were analyzed for the state of viral DNA, the expression of viral genes and of different cellular proto-oncogenes. Low levels of viral replication and presence of integrated viral forms including sequences of the enhancer element, appeared as a general rule in these tumors. Enhanced expression of one or more of the nuclear protooncogenes: c-myc, N-myc, c-fos, c-jun and jun-B was frequently observed. In two hepatomas, elevated expression and allelic alterations of c-myc were subsequent to integration of WHV DNA near the c-myc coding domain. The viral strategy for insertional activation of c-myc in these tumors appeared basically identical to that of mammalian retroviruses in T-cell lymphomas of mice and rats. Whether insertional mutagenesis of different oncogenes may be more generally linked to liver oncogenesis induced by WHV and hepatitis B viruses remains to be determined.
