How virus persistence can initiate the tumorigenesis process

Table 1 Oncogenic viruses are latent/persistent viruses

Virus	EBV	HHV-8	HPV	HBV	HCV	HTLV-1
Associated tumor(s): viral protein(s) expressed	BL: EBNA-1	KS: vFLIP, vCYC, LANA-1	Anogenital, oral, skin and laryngeal cancers: E6, E7	HCC: HBx	HCC: CP10, NS3, NS5	ATL: tax
	NPC, TCL: EBNA1 + LMP1	PEL, MCD: vFLIP, vCYC, LANA-1, LANA-2, vIL-6
	HL: EBNA1 + LMP1-2
	PTLD: EBNA1-6 + LMP1-2
Persistency	Always	Always	20% infected subjects	90%-95% infected newborns	70%-85% infected subjects	Always
				5% infected adults
Period between infection and tumor onset	10-20 yr	10-20 yr	5-20 yr	10-30 yr	10-30 yr	20-30 yr

EBV: Epstein-Barr virus; HHV-8: Human herpesvirus 8, also named Kaposi sarcoma virus; HPV: Human papillomavirus; HBV: Hepatatis B virus; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; HTLV-1: Human T-cell leukemia virus 1; BL: Burkitt lymphoma; NPC: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma; TCL: T cell lymphoma; HL: Hodgkin lymphoma; PTLD: Posttransplant lymphoprolipherative disorder; KS: Kaposi sarcoma; PEL: Primary effusion lymphoma; MCD: Multicentric Castleman’s disease; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; ATL: Adult T-cell leukemia.