It Takes Two (Genomes) to Cancer: Paired Viral and Host Transcriptome Analysis Provides New Insights about EBV Carcinogenicity

The discovery of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in 1964 gave birth to the field of viral oncology. Despite significant scientific and clinical developments in research on several other viruses discovered and linked to cancer risk much later, our understanding of EBV as a carcinogen and a possible target for therapeutic interventions remains limited. In this issue of Cancer Research, Chakravorty and colleagues present results of massive reanalysis of public RNA-sequencing data for 291 control and 1,051 tumor samples representing 15 cancer types. Their paired analysis of the viral and host transcriptome sheds light on mechanisms of EBV carcinogenicity and provides new leads for translational applications.