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Well, here's the story (see below).  I've calmed down a bit since my
previous post, though I still do intend to ask my oncologist what she thinks
about this line of research.  Apparently the mouse virus has been studied by
other researchers in Australia, Tunisia, and elsewhere for at least five
years now.  In truth, I haven't seen any evidence of mice around here, so
Puss is safe for the time being....
Eva

     New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
     Tie virus, cancer in mouse study
     BY LAN N. NGUYEN
     DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
     Tuesday, October 5th, 2004

     A virus that causes breast cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in the
common house mouse may do the same in humans, Bronx cancer researchers said
yesterday.
     Genetic bits of the so-called mouse mammary tumor virus, or MMTV, were
discovered in six of 12 human patients diagnosed with both breast cancer and
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, according to the study published in the September
issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

     "This is important because it gives us a handle - we know what it does
in mice, so we need to see what it does in humans and what genes it turns
on," said Dr. Polly Etkind, a researcher at Our Lady of Mercy Comprehensive
Cancer Center in the Bronx, which published the study.

     "This raises a provocative possibility that it is in some way related
to breast cancer," agreed Dr. Clifford Hudis, chief of breast cancer
medicine service at Manhattan's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

     Breast cancer in mice occurs when MMTV, once copied into the DNA, gets
close enough to a tumor gene to prompt it to produce cancerous cells. The
virus can also be passed from mother to baby through breast milk.

     But researchers at Our Lady of Mercy do not yet know how MMTV induces
lymphoma in its rodent hosts.