The Scientist - USA (2022 - Spring)

research over to his colleague Peyton
Rous. Rous went on to a distinguished
career studying virus-induced mamma-
lian cancers and won the Nobel Prize
in Physiology or Medicine in 1966, just
days after Shope died of metastatic pan-
creatic cancer.
Shope’s discovery of the virus that
causes rabbits to grow horns provided
epidemiologists with the first mamma-
lian model of a virus-induced cancer,
ultimately leading to advances in the
development of effective antiviral cancer
therapies. Rous’s own studies, developed
from Shope’s rabbit papilloma work, led to
other breakthroughs in cancer research.
In the 1970s, German virologist Harald
zur Hausen demonstrated that cervical
cancer is usually caused by human pap-
illomavirus (HPV), and in the 1980s,
Isabelle Giri and her colleagues at the
Pasteur Institute in Paris published the
complete genomic sequence of the Shope

papillomavirus, which bore a strong fam-

ily resemblance to human papillomavi-

ruses. There followed a rush to develop

a vaccine to protect against HPV-caused

cancers, which include cancers of the

cervix, vagina, penis, anus, mouth, and

throat. The HPV vaccine, first approved in

2006, is now on the World Health Orga-

nization’s Model List of Essential Medi-

cines, a compendium of drugs so safe and

effective they are considered essential to

any healthcare system.

While the jackalope is undeniably an

imaginary and whimsical creation, like

many folkloric creatures it is very likely

connected to real-world animals, just as

the kraken may be linked to various spe-

cies of giant squid, or the mermaids often

sighted by sailors may have been mana-

tees or dugongs. And while there is no

evidence that the Herrick brothers were

aware of folkloric horned rabbits, the

prevalence of jackalope analogs in many

world cultures suggests that encounters

with virus-stricken rabbits have long

occurred in the field. That the study of

these actual horned rabbits led to an anti-

cancer vaccine that has saved millions of

lives may be even more fantastic than the

mythical jackalope itself. g

Michael P. Branch is Foundation Professor

and Professor of Literature and Environ-

ment at the University of Nevada, Reno.

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That the study of these actual horned rabbits led to an anti-

cancer vaccine that has saved millions of lives may be even

more fantastic than the mythical jackalope itself.