Reprogramming of cellular metabolic pathways by human oncogenic viruses

Oncogenic viruses, like all viruses, relies on host metabolism to provide the metabolites and energy needed for virus replication. Many DNA tumor viruses and retroviruses will reprogram metabolism during infection. Additionally, some viral oncogenes may alter metabolism independent of virus replication. Virus infection and cancer development share many similarities regarding metabolic reprogramming as both processes demand increased metabolic activity to produce biomass: cell proliferation in the case of cancer and virion production in the case of infection. This review discusses the parallels in metabolic reprogramming between human oncogenic viruses and oncogenesis.