Is the virus responsible for cervical cancer in women causing eye cancer in their children? A study by city doctors may soon have some answers.
The department of biotechnology has given Rs 3.5 crore to Vision Research Centre of Sankara Nethralaya to study if human pappiloma virus (HPV) that causes cervical cancer in women is responsible for retinoblastoma, a cancer of the retina found in children below the age of six. Many of the tumours in such children’s eyes were found to have the virus. Researchers suspect that the virus may be pushed into the child from the mother during delivery, something which has been proven in the case of HIV.