University of Wisconsin Health researchers have found a new way that viruses spread in cells.
In the test, the scientists compared two similar herpesviruses, the Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus and the Epstein-Barr virus, according to a press release. The scientists found that both viruses grew in different ways to make sure they continued to spread in cells when the cells break apart.
Herpesviruses have the ability to give the virus to host cells, reproduce the genome and cause the existence of many viruses within a single cell. Herpesviruses also can make sure that parts of the virus' makeup stays in a host cell as a round genetic specimen that can reproduce without the chromosomes.
When the pieces of the virus stay in the host cells, those with the Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus can get Kaposi's sarcoma, while those with Epstein-Barr virus can get B-cell lymphomas. Those most often happen in people whose immune system is weakened.
When cancer cells no longer carry the virus, they die.
