Projects
SV40, Asbestos & Meso-thelioma (SAM Program)
Currently our Foundation is funding a research program to clarify the relationship between SV40, Asbestos and Mesothelioma (SAM Program). Simian Virus 40 is an oncogenic virus which may have entered the general population as a contaminant of the early polio vaccine. Recently it has been shown to cause mesotheliomas in experimental laboratory animals. Mesothelioma is a rare and fatal malignancy often associated with exposures to asbestos minerals. Once SV40 was established as an animal carcinogen, molecular biology techniques were used to see if DNA sequences of the virus could be found in mesothelioma tumors occurring in humans. About 50% of the human mesothelioma cases studied were positive for small regions o f DNA sequences consistent with those of SV40. We have been supporting the SAM Program for about 18 months the work is with the goal of determining the role, if any, of SV40 in human mesothelioma.
Goals
- Search for SV40 Antigens and SV40 Viral Sequences in Human Mesotheliomas which have been Transplanted into Nude Mice.
- Prevalence of SV40 in the Human Population.
- Evaluation of Two Series of Human Mesothelioma Cases where SV40 is and is not a Factor.
- Application of the RDA Techniques to the Identification of Viral Etiology in Human Mesothelioma.
Evidence against a Role for SV40 in Human Mesotheliom (PDF file)
