Writing Exercise #2


The work published by Ronit Sarid and Shou-Jiang Gao pertaining to viruses and human cancer has opened up a new pathway for cancer prevention, being an early detection system aimed at targeting viral infections in order to stop cancer development. One of the key findings presented in the article is that KSHV, Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, is present in high rates among HIV patients which have had their immune system compromised. Not only is it present in AIDS patients, the virus is also closely related to EBV, a different carcinogenic virus. A KSHV vaccine would be given early to a patient as the development of cancer does not come immediately after being diagnosed. A vaccine for KSHV would be incredibly effective as HIV-1 and KSHV both work and influence one another, which would then lead to AIDS, where the body can no longer fight against a developing cancer. By stopping this interaction between the two AIDs could potentially be stopped entirely and the development of cancer can also be greatly reduced. The development of a KSHV vaccine could also act as a potential vaccine for EBV due to its relatedness, if not it could serve a baseline vaccine for later developments. Therefore the initial development of a KSHV vaccine, which would already see much use due to its high prevalence among AIDS patients which saw a significant spike in diagnosed patients after the 80s, would be highly cost efficient due to its impacts in two different areas.

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