Asbestos, Simian virus 40 and malignant mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos, Simian virus 40 and malignant mesothelioma, by S.C. Stenton (Thorax, 1997).

The study

• Author: S.C. Stenton
• Journal: Thorax
• Published: 1997;52 Suppl 3(Suppl 3):S52-7
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 10 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Summary of the article

This review discussed whether Simian virus 40 (SV40) might contribute, alongside asbestos, to malignant mesothelioma. It was prompted by an introductory article by Pepper and colleagues, in which SV40 primers amplified DNA of approximately the correct length in four of nine British mesotheliomas. The author noted that about 1000 cases were reported each year in Britain, with a predicted peak of up to 3000 per year around 2020, reflecting past amphibole asbestos use. Published studies were summarised. SV40-like DNA had been reported in 20 of 31 childhood brain tumours and in 29 of 48, and 8 of 11, mesotheliomas. Another group found none in 50 mesotheliomas. The author discussed possible technical explanations for these discrepancies, including laboratory contamination. Polio vaccines made in rhesus monkey kidney cells before 1961 were described as contaminated, with up to 30% thought to contain live SV40. Intrapleural SV40 produced mesotheliomas in all 12 injected hamsters in one study. SV40 large T antigen binds and inactivates tumour suppressor proteins, including p53 and the retinoblastoma protein. Asbestos fibres might help viral DNA enter cells. The author concluded that the reports required confirmation but raised the possibility that SV40 is an important cofactor. If about 5% of the general population and 60% of patients with mesothelioma carried the virus, this would suggest an approximately 30-fold increased risk. Cohort studies of vaccinated populations had limited power to detect such an effect.

PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

In plain English

This 1997 article was a review, not a new study. The author discussed published research, including a report by Pepper and colleagues, on whether Simian virus 40 (SV40) might act alongside asbestos in causing malignant mesothelioma. SV40 is a monkey virus that contaminated some polio vaccines. Among the studies reviewed, Pepper and colleagues found DNA fragments of about the expected length in four of nine mesotheliomas. Carbone and coworkers found SV40-like DNA in 29 of 48 mesotheliomas, and another study found it in eight of 11, while Strickler and colleagues found none in 50. The review also cited an experiment in which SV40 caused mesotheliomas in all 12 injected hamsters. The author cautioned that the findings needed confirmation and that laboratory contamination was possible. Finding a virus in a tumour is not the same as showing it caused the tumour, and studies of vaccinated groups had limited power to detect a risk. The author concluded that there was circumstantial evidence suggesting SV40 may act as a cofactor with asbestos in human mesothelioma.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: narrative review and commentary on a recent introductory article (Pepper et al.) and other published studies; no new data
• Who was studied: published studies that looked for SV40-like DNA in human tumours (mesothelioma, childhood brain tumours, osteosarcoma) and in control tissues, plus animal and laboratory studies; no new patients were studied
• Exposure: Simian virus 40 (SV40), to which part of the population was exposed through contaminated polio vaccines, considered as a possible cofactor with asbestos
• Main results:
  • In the introductory article by Pepper and colleagues, the SV40 primers produced DNA fragments of approximately the correct length in four of nine mesotheliomas
  • Carbone and coworkers (reviewed study) identified SV40-like DNA in 29 of 48 human mesotheliomas
  • A further reviewed study identified SV40-like DNA in eight of 11 malignant mesotheliomas and in none of seven control samples
  • Strickler and colleagues (reviewed study) failed to replicate these findings in tissue from 50 mesotheliomas
  • In one reviewed animal study, SV40 injected into the pleural cavity produced mesotheliomas in all 12 injected hamsters
  • Most reviewed studies of cohorts vaccinated with potentially contaminated polio vaccine showed no greater prevalence of tumours among immunised subjects
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that there is circumstantial evidence suggesting that SV40 may act as a cofactor with asbestos in inducing human mesotheliomas, and that current information raises that possibility
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author stated that reports of SV40-like DNA in human mesotheliomas require confirmation
  • The author stated that contamination by laboratory SV40 strains is possible
  • The author stated that finding a virus in a tumour does not show it caused the tumour
  • The author stated that cohort studies of populations exposed to SV40 had limited power to detect even a large effect on a rare tumour

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Malignant Mesothelioma, SV40, Mesothelioma, Amphibole Asbestos.

Related studies

• Simian virus 40 is present in most United States human mesotheliomas, but it is rarely present in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma — P. Rizzo, M. Carbone, et al. (1999)
• Human mesotheliomas contain the simian virus-40 regulatory region and large tumor antigen DNA sequences — H.I. Pass, J.S. Donington, et al. (1998)
• Simian virus 40 transformation, malignant mesothelioma and brain tumors — F. Qi, M. Carbone, et al. (2011)
• Association of SV40 with human tumours — B. Jasani, A. Cristaudo, et al. (2001)
• Simian virus 40 sequences in blood specimens from healthy individuals of Casale Monferrato, an industrial town with a history of asbestos pollution — C. Pancaldi, V. Balatti, et al. (2009)
• Mesothelioma mortality in Europe: impact of asbestos consumption and simian virus 40 — K. Leithner, A. Leithner, et al. (2006)

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