This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Erratum (v24,p5620) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a colleague Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Save to my personal folders Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Poulin, D. L. Articles by DeCaprio, J. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Poulin, D. L. Articles by DeCaprio, J. A.

Is There a Role for SV40 in Human Cancer?

Danielle L. Poulin, James A. DeCaprio

From the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.

Address reprint requests to James A. DeCaprio, MD, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Mayer 457, 44 Binney St, Boston, MA 02115; e-mail: james_decaprio{at}dfci.harvard.edu

The question of whether Simian Virus 40 (SV40) can cause human tumors has been one of the most highly controversial topics in cancer research during the last 50 years. The longstanding debate began with the discovery of SV40 as a contaminant in poliovirus vaccine stocks that were used to inoculate approximately 100 million children and adults in the United States between 1955 and 1963, and countless more throughout the world. Concerns regarding the potential health risk of SV40 exposure were reinforced by studies demonstrating SV40's potential to transform human cells and promote tumor growth in animal models. Many studies have attempted to assess the relationship between the potential exposure of humans to SV40 and cancer incidence. Reports of the detection of SV40 DNA in a variety of cancers have raised serious concerns as to whether the inadvertent inoculation with SV40 has led to the development of cancer in humans. However, inconsistent reports linking SV40 with various tumor types has led to conflicting views regarding the potential of SV40 as a human cancer virus. Several recent studies suggest that older detection methodologies were flawed, and the limitations of these methods could account for most, if not all, of the positive correlations of SV40 in human tumors to date. Although many people may have been exposed to SV40 by polio vaccination, there is inadequate evidence to support widespread SV40 infection in the population, increased tumor incidence in those individuals who received contaminated vaccine, or a direct role for SV40 in human cancer.

Terms in blue are defined in the glossary, found at the end of this article and online at www.jco.org.

Authors' disclosures of potential conflicts of interest and author contributions are found at the end of this article.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. Kassem, A. Schopflin, C. Diaz, W. Weyers, E. Stickeler, M. Werner, and A. zur Hausen Frequent Detection of Merkel Cell Polyomavirus in Human Merkel Cell Carcinomas and Identification of a Unique Deletion in the VP1 Gene Cancer Res., July 1, 2008; 68(13): 5009 - 5013. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. Feng, M. Shuda, Y. Chang, and P. S. Moore Clonal Integration of a Polyomavirus in Human Merkel Cell Carcinoma Science, February 22, 2008; 319(5866): 1096 - 1100. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				V. Sroller, R. A. Vilchez, A. R. Stewart, C. Wong, and J. S. Butel Influence of the Viral Regulatory Region on Tumor Induction by Simian Virus 40 in Hamsters J. Virol., January 15, 2008; 82(2): 871 - 879. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. J. Verschoor, M. J. Groenewoud, Z. Fagrouch, A. Kewalapat, S. van Gessel, M. J. L. Kik, and J. L. Heeney Molecular characterization of the first polyomavirus from a New World primate: squirrel monkey polyomavirus J. Gen. Virol., January 1, 2008; 89(1): 130 - 137. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]