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Merkel cell polyomavirus and Merkel cell carcinoma.

James A Decaprio
Published in: Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences (2018)
Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) causes the highly aggressive and relatively rare skin cancer known as Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC). MCPyV also causes a lifelong yet relatively innocuous infection and is one of 14 distinct human polyomaviruses species. Although polyomaviruses typically do not cause illness in healthy individuals, several can cause catastrophic diseases in immunocompromised hosts. MCPyV is the only polyomavirus clearly associated with human cancer. How MCPyV causes MCC and what oncogenic events must transpire to enable this virus to cause MCC is the focus of this essay.This article is part of the themed issue 'Human oncogenic viruses'.
Keyphrases
  • endothelial cells
  • induced pluripotent stem cells
  • single cell
  • skin cancer
  • squamous cell carcinoma
  • young adults
  • bone marrow
  • respiratory failure