SIMIAN-VIRUS-40, POLIOVACCINES AND HUMAN TUMORS - A REVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Recently, wild-type SV40 and/or DNA sequences indistinguishable from S V40 have been detected in specific types of human tumors: ependymoma a nd choroid plexus tumors, mesothelioma, osteosarcoma and sarcoma. The same tumor types will develop in hamsters after injection with SV40. T hese findings are interesting in themselves for they could shed light on the pathogenesis of these tumors. These findings also have public h ealth implications. SV40 was found to have contaminated the poliovacci nes and the adenovaccines from 1955 until 1963, therefore resulting in the inadvertent injection of millions of people with this tumor virus . Moreover, our society pays a high cost for asbestos causality, a car cinogen associated with the development of mesothelioma. In addition t o asbestos, the potential impact of finding another possible cause for mesothelioma (i.e., SV40), as well as the possible pathogenic role of the contaminated poliovaccines, has generated considerable public int erest and concern. To discuss these recent findings, the NM (National Institutes of Health) and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), orga nized an International Conference at the NM, Bethesda, MD, January 27- 28, 1997. The association of SV40 with human mesothelioma was also dis cussed in a special session at the IV International Mesothelioma Confe rence that was held at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, P A, May 13-16, 1997. The purpose of this review is to summarize data, f rom the discovery of the contaminated poliovaccines, to the most recen t findings presented at the meetings in Bethesda and Philadelphia, to discuss technical and other problems associated with this research, an d the potential for using these findings to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for SV40-associated malignancies.