It agrees with data suggesting that DNA tumour viruses suppress the transcriptional downregulation of TK activity during the eukaryotic cell cycle (Hengstschläger et al, 1994), and that nasopharyngeal carcinomas with detectable EBV LMP1 protein grow faster than the non-expressing ones (Hu et al, 1995). The gene discussed is TKT; the disease is nasopharyngeal carcinoma.