Oncogenic retroviruses in animals and humans

Retrovirology emerged as a branch of science at the beginning of the last century. However, a deeper insight into the pathology of retroviruses and retrovirus-induced cancers could only be gained after the advent of modern biochemical and molecular biological techniques in the 1970s and 1980s. This study gives an overview of the known and well-characterised exogenous oncogenic animal retroviruses and the only human oncoretrovirus discovered thus far, HTLV-1. It briefly reviews retrovirus genetics, mechanisms of oncogenic transformation and malignant diseases caused by retroviruses.