[Viruses and mammary carcinogenesis].

Bittner virus has been extensively studied by recent electron microscopy and molecular biology techniques. The structure, the biochemical, physical and antigenic properties of the RNA tumor viruses - i.e. the mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) - are well known. Recent observations in human tissues of particles similar to animal viruses that are known to be oncogenic have raised the hypothesis of the role of viruses in human cancer. In mice, breast cancer can be caused by a virus - the Bittner virus or MMTV - that is usually transmitted from mother to offspring in the milk. The discovery of such virus particles in human milks and breast cancer tissues could provide data about a viral aetiology of human breast cancer.