European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 11, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Prom infection to cancer cell growth goes awry  cell t of Papilla mtg k Miff a. J viral dam incorporated sower or. Tom broker of Tho 25 viruses that can cause genital veits strains Era to of tort associated with cervical cancer. Now scientists have figured out How thana viruses can infect cells. They Hope the research will eventually Lead to vaccines to prevent cervical cancer. When a wart virus lands on a healthy cell it remains there harmlessly. But if the cell has been injured the virus can invade. Two viral genes e1 and e2, use materials from the cell to produce new copies of the virus. Two other genes e6 and e7, can then make substances that Knock out two proteins that regulate cell division. Disorderly cell division begins and a wart forms As infected cells Migrate to the skin surface. In the Case of viruses that cause genital warts virus genes can sometimes be incorporated into the chromosomes of Host cells. There they can disrupt proteins that control cell growth leading to cancer. Not continued from Page 15 develop abnormal cervical cells broker said but most of these abnormalities go away by themselves or after medical treatment. In other women the abnormal cells Are transformed into cancer cells producing invasive tutors of the cervix. Unlike the herpes virus which brings tools for copying itself when it invades a cell the wart virus does not have the Basic machinery needed to replicate itself instead it has to trick the cell into providing the materials for making new viral particles when a wart virus lands on a healthy epithelial cell it remains harmlessly on the cell surface but when the cell has suffered an injury like the tiny cuts and abrasions found on cervical cells after sexual Intercourse the virus can enter cells. Then the virus exploits molecules called growth factors that Are involved in wound Healing said broker whose Laboratory is exploring these earliest Steps of viral infection. We Don t know the exact Steps but the virus manages to replicate its Dan two to four times Quot he said possibly using the enzymes called into play to repair wounds. Thus established the virus begins replicating at this latent stage Only 2 of the 10 genes found in each human wart virus Are Active said or Peter Howley chief of the Laboratory of tumor virus biology at the National cancer Institute in Bethesda. My. In this state it makes copies of itself at a slow rate and no warts Are apparent. But As infected epithelial cells mature and move toward the surface Howley said the virus launches a second attack this one to trick Host cells which normally do not Divide into dividing and providing More raw materials for making new viruses two other virus genes perform this task with terrible precision. One makes a protein that binds to a cellular protein that stops cell division said or Arthur Levine professor and chairman of the department of molecular biology at Princeton University this cellular protein called p53, is found in every cell of the body or. Levine discovered. When it is bound to the viral protein he said it gets marked for destruction the cell s machinery swoops in and destroys its own braking mechanism and then the cell divides the other Gene meanwhile makes a viral protein that attaches to and interferes with another regulator of cell growth the re protein said or. De Harlow a molecular biologist at Harvard University when the level of this second Brake protein Falls factors that initiate cell division Are freed he said. Benign warts Are formed As infected cells Migrate from the base of the epithelium to the skin surface Howley said. When All of the e genes Are Active he said the Host cells undergo extra divisions creating a wart. But As infected cells reach the skin surface he said the second pair of genes turns off and yet another pair is activated. These late genes produce the viral particle. At the skin surface the wart virus particles Are shed looking for new wounded epithelial cells to invade. Wart viruses cause cervical cancer Howley said under a special set of circumstances. Most of the time he said the wart virus plays its tricks in the cell nucleus and does not interfere with the Host cell s chromosomes. But when the wart virus particularly strains number 16 and 18, incorporates its genes into the human chromosomes the virus becomes deadly. The Early genes Are disrupted Howley said leaving the late genes to play their deadly havoc with the brakes on cell growth. Although researchers know a lot about How wart viruses cause cancer they do not know Why strains 16 and 18 Are so particularly deadly. Other genes in the Host cell have to be inactivated for cancer to take hold Howley said. But the virus plays a major role in cervical cancer and is present in most tutors. But for reasons that Are not Well understood Many wart virus infections including those produced by the deadliest strains go away without treatment Howley said. The body s immune system destroys or keeps them under control. This is Why so Many women carry the virus in the cervix or Vagina and so Many men Harbor the virus in the Penis with no ill effects. It is also what links genital cancers to people with damaged immune systems a vaccine could prevent most cervical cancers a amp id or. Gary Schoolnik an associate professor of Medicine at Stanford University. Currently he said Laboratory animals Are being Given injections that contain material from wart viruses to see if their immune systems will mount a More aggressive attack on such infections. So far he said it works. It May also be possible to develop drugs that would Zero in on the viral proteins that remove the brakes on cell growth Howley said. Such drugs could be applied to the cervix to Stop cancers Early. Readers action Wurzburg keeps its Rainbow crafts shop a my family and i have been using the Rainbow crafts shop on Creighton Barracks Wurzburg Germany for some time now. They have provided excellent services for a wide variety of Art projects that our family enjoys when we were transferred from Wurzburg to Hohenfels we still would occasionally use the Rainbow crafts shop for services whenever we visited friends in Wurzburg. Recently. I discovered that the Craft shop is to be replaced with a Chi Chi s i have nothing against Chi Chi s restaurants but there Are already enough fast food places on Leighton Barracks As it is the Rainbow crafts has been a great place for All of those Art projects and hobbies that liven up our time m Germany i would like to know Why the decision was made to replace the crafts shop and if there is any possibility of reversing it Randall t. Belstra Hohenfels Germany Page 16 the stars and stripes be Ellis d. Carter management analyst 98th area support group Wurzburg replies not to worry. The Rainbow crafts shop will not be replaced by Chi Chi s in fact there were never any plans for the Rainbow crafts shop to go away Only to be relocated. Here a a Brief history of that proposal. We Learned from Wurzburg s 1991 Usa eur Community commander assessment Survey Occas that Over 50 percen of Wurzburg Occas respondents wanted an american style franchised restaurant Chi Chis Popeye a Etc when the Opportunity for Wurzburg to get an american style franchise arose the facility chosen As the location was the Rainbow crafts shop because of its prior use As a food service operation its location and size and what Community residents told us they wanted after Chi Chi s architects evaluated the Rainbow crafts shop they determined that the Cost of converting the tuesday february 11, 1992 facility was prohibitive and the proposal was shelved. Hopefully we have allayed any fears you have Abri losing the Rainbow crafts shop in spite of fiscal and manpower cuts retaining excellent mar facilities to maintain a High Quality of life in the Wurzburg Comour will always remain our top priority to write us readers action line is the readers a court of last resort striving to answer some of the questions about life overseas in a military environment or quest bus about policies and guidelines when other avenues for answers Are not readily available. If you have a question and Don t know where to turn for the answer write to readers action line co the stars and stripes unit 29480, Apo a 09211. All letters must be signed and preference will be Given to those seeking information of general interest to our readers