Latent Viruses, Microcompetition, Transcription Factor Deficiency and the Cause of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

The cause of B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (B-ALL) is unknown. Some studies suggested that the cause might be a deficiency in certain transcription factors due to a genetic deletion. We would like to propose a different event that might cause such deficiency. This event is the presence of certain latent viruses in infected cells. The event and its molecular, cellular and clinical consequences have been described by Hanan Polansky in 2003 in his book on Microcompetition.