Does a new polyomavirus contribute to Merkel cell carcinoma?
1 Departments of Medicine/Dermatology and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
2 Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
3 Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
Genome Biology 2008, 9:228 doi:10.1186/gb-2008-9-6-228
Published: 17 June 2008Abstract
A new technique designed to hunt for non-human transcripts has identified a novel SV40-like virus present in the majority of Merkel cell carcinomas. Here we examine what it will take to determine whether or not this virus contributes to carcinogenesis.



