Main description:

Traces the history of the study of tumor viruses and its role in driving breakthroughs in cancer research.

Worldwide, approximately one-fifth of human cancers are caused by tumor viruses, with hepatitis B virus and HPV being the leading culprits. While the explosive growth in molecular biology in the late twentieth century is well known, the role that the study of tumor viruses has played in driving many of the greatest breakthroughs is not. Without the insights gained by studying tumor viruses, many significant theoretical advancements over the last four decades in cellular and molecular biology would not have been made. More practically, the study of tumor viruses has saved thousands, if not millions, of lives.

In Cancer Virus Hunters, Gregory J. Morgan traces the high points in the development of tumor virology, from Peyton Rous's pioneering work on chicken tumors in 1909 to the successful development of an HPV vaccine for cervical cancer in 2006. Morgan offers a novel approach to understanding the interconnectedness of a long series of biomedical breakthroughs, including those that led to seven Nobel prizes. Among other advances, Morgan describes and contextualizes the science that prompted the discoveries of reverse transcriptase, RNA splicing, the tumor suppressor p53, the vaccine for hepatitis B, and the HIV test. He also explores how "cancer virus hunters" have demonstrated the virtue of beginning with a simple system, even when investigating a complex disease like cancer.

Based on extensive archival research and over fifty interviews with experts, Cancer Virus Hunters is a tour de force summarizing a century of research to show how discoveries made with tumor viruses came to dominate the contemporary understanding of cancer. By showcasing the scientists themselves, the book makes for an unusually accessible journey through the history of science. It will be of interest to biomedical professionals-especially in oncology, hepatology, and infectious disease-in addition to historians of science and anyone interested in cancer research.

Contents:

Glossary and Abbreviations
Introduction. The Untold Story of How a Century of Tumor Virology Changed Biomedicine
Chapter 1. The Beginnings: Peyton Rous and Chickens, Richard Shope and Rabbits, and John J. Bittner and Mice
Chapter 2. True Believers: Ludwik Gross, Sarah Stewart, Bernice Eddy, and Polyomavirus
Chapter 3. The Importance of Measurement: Renato Dulbecco, Marguerite Vogt, and the Rise of Quantitative Animal Virology
Chapter 4. Cell Lines and Cat Leukemia: Michael Stoker, Bill Jarrett, and the Early Fruit of the Glasgow Institute of Virology
Chapter 5. Insights from the Field: Anthony Epstein, Denis Burkitt, Werner and Gertrude Henle, and the First Human Tumor Virus
Chapter 6. Persistence despite Political Challenges: Jan Svoboda and Tumor Virology behind the Iron Curtain
Chapter 7. A Surprising Discovery in the Blood: Baruch Blumberg, Harvey Alter, and Hepatitis B Virus
Chapter 8. A Breakthrough and a New Tool: Howard Temin, David Baltimore, and Reverse Transcriptase
Chapter 9. The Molecular-Genetic Basis of Cancer: Michael Bishop, Harold Varmus, Dominique Stehelin, and Hunting of the Oncogene src
Chapter 10. Mecca for Tumor Virology: James Watson, Joe Sambrook, SV40, and the Growth of Tumor Virology at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Chapter 11. Control Mechanisms beyond Viruses: Louise Chow, Phillip Sharp, Richard Roberts, and the Discovery of RNA Splicing in Adenovirus
Chapter 12. A Second Cancer Gene: Edward Scolnick, Robert Weinberg, Geoffrey Cooper, Michael Wigler, and the Oncogene ras
Chapter 13. A Molecular Brake on Cancer: David Lane, Arnold Levine, and the Tumor Suppressor p53
Chapter 14. Unplanned Practical Payoffs: Robert Gallo, Luc Montagnier, Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, HTLV, and HIV
Chapter 15. Planned Practical Payoffs: Harald zur Hausen, Jian Zhou, Ian Frazer, Douglas Lowy, John Schiller, HPV, and the Cervical Cancer Vaccine
Conclusion. Patterns in a Century of Research
Acknowledgments
Interviews and Archival Sources
Notes
Bibliography
Index