oncogenesi virale - Sezione di Microbiologia

PEYTON ROUSIn 1909, fresh out of medical school, Rous joined the staffof the Rockefeller Institute and was promptly put in chargeof the laboratory for cancer research.Soon thereafter, he was given a Plymouth Rock hen thathad a large tumor growing on its breast.When he injected small pieces of the growth into hensfrom the same bloodline, they developed tumors.Adoptive tumor formation could be achieved using cellfreefiltrates or supernatants from emulsified tumorcells). He thus concluded that the tumors were caused bya filterable agent, as viruses were then known.He published these findings in a pair of seminal articles inthe Journal of Experimental Medicine in 1910 and 1911.Rous’ work, although not ignored, was met with someindifference. He was vindicated and his discovery earnedhim a Nobel Prize in 1966.Rous went on to confirm that other avian tumors could alsobe transmitted. RSV strains have been studied inlaboratories ever since.4