Evidence of prostate cancer-linked virus zoonoses from biophysical genomic variations.

Abstract

An ongoing double-blind examination of (mathematically) smooth functional dependences of population-based genomic distributions of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on quantified environmental parameters has flagged a SNP that has been associated with prostate cancer for dependence on zoonotic viruses. The SNP rs13091518 is an intergenic variant near the gene/pseudo-gene COX6CP6 on chromosome 3. The risk T allele, which is the major allele in all homeostatic populations considered, clearly demonstrates a negative adaptive force of about -0.1 universal genomic energy units/zoonotic virus unit. This biophysical perspective has thus provided evidence for a causative relationship between zoonotic viruses and prostate cancer. Our findings are consistent with other studies that have found an association between several zoonotic viruses and prostate cancer. This result demonstrates the significance of an intergenic variant in the adaptive response to a viral zoonotic pathogen.