Pitt husband-and-wife team discovers cancer-linked virus

A husband-and-wife team at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute have discovered a virus strongly linked to Merkel cell carcinoma, an aggressive skin cancer that used to be very rare but has become increasingly common in the past two decades, particularly among those with compromised immune systems.

Yuan Chang and Patrick Moore reported their findings in this week's Science.

Interestingly, Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV) is the second cancer-associated virus discovered by the pair. In 1993, they found the virus that causes the most common cancer in Africa, Kaposi's sarcoma.

Chang and Moore spent nearly a decade developing a new technology that was instrumental in discovering the virus. "Digital transcriptome subtraction" is so called because it subtracts genetic sequences known to be human from the genome of the tumor under study, leaving only genetic transcripts that might have come from a foreign organism.

Using the technique in Merkel cell tumors, they found one sequence that was similar to, but distinct from, known viruses. They went on to show that this sequence belonged to a new polyomavirus that was present in almost all the Merkel cell tumors they tested, but few other tissues.

Their discovery could lead to a blood test or vaccine, similar to the recently developed vaccines against human papillomavirus (HPV) to prevent cervical cancer.

Researchers had suspected the existence of MCV, which is genetically similar to an African green monkey virus. Up to a quarter of adults--one billion people--could be infected with the human relative of this monkey virus. However, just as with HPV, most people with the virus will not develop the associated cancer.

More: NYT, Reuters

Local anthropologist/feminist activist passes away

When I interned at the Post-Gazette in college, one of my assignments was an obituary of an Oakmont doctor, T.J. Ferguson. I was really nervous about the assignment because it's a tall order to sum up someone's life, especially who you've never met.

But it turned out to be one of my favorite assignments. By the end, I was wishing I HAD met Dr. Ferguson.

That's how I feel about this woman, whose obit ran in the PG today: Carol McAllister.

She was a professor at Pitt, which is how I first noticed the item at all. But wow -- it sounds like she did some truly amazing things:

• director of the University of Pittsburgh Women's Studies Program and was active with the Thomas Merton Center, the Women's Resource Center for Greater Pittsburgh and the Social Justice Action Team of the First United Methodist Church, Pittsburgh
• work with Early Head Start, a component of Head Start which helps low-income mothers and families prepare sooner for the health and education of their children.
• gave the children in these communities disposable cameras and told them to chronicle their lives. Her work and their photos were published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2005.
• organized a conference with speakers from Rwanda, Israel and Canada that focused on the roles that women can play in conflict resolution and rebuilding war-torn communities.

I am so sorry for her family's loss, a loss for the community and world as well. And, I find her story truly inspiring. I would be proud to do half as much in my own life.