REFLECTIONS ON VIRUSES AND CANCER

In recent years human and animal cancers have increasingly been shown to have a viral component in their aetiology. Oncogenic viruses will c ontinue to be discovered although with certain cancers there is also a n important environmental component, and with others - congenital canc ers and cancers of early childhood - an important genetic component. T here is thus the probability that 'cancer' may not be an entity. Rathe r it may be a syndrome, the phenotypic expression of alteration of cel lular metabolism, differentiation and cell death. More information is needed on the mathematics of cell division and destruction, in vivo an d in vitro, and the involvement of 'biological clocks', i.e. ageing pr ocesses. These data, when available, should help us to understand bett er the nature of cancer and lead us to more effective methods of preve ntion and cure.