SV40, growth factors, and mesothelioma: another piece of the puzzle

Our plain-English summary of SV40, growth factors, and mesothelioma: another piece of the puzzle, by B.T. Mossman, D.C. Gruenert (American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, 2002).

The study

• Authors: B.T. Mossman, D.C. Gruenert
• Journal: American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology
• Published: 2002;26(2):167-70
• Type of article: Comment
• Cited by: 23 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Summary of the article

In this Perspective, the authors, from the University of Vermont College of Medicine, discussed how simian virus 40 (SV40) and growth factors may contribute to malignant mesothelioma. They described it as a tumor historically associated with occupational asbestos exposure and with a grim prognosis. They summarized earlier work: studies reporting SV40 large T antigen DNA sequences in human mesotheliomas in the United States; a lower frequency of mesothelioma in Finland, where polio vaccine showed no SV40 contamination; and laboratory studies showing that human mesothelial cells were highly susceptible to SV40 transformation and that SV40 acted synergistically with asbestos. They reviewed how SV40 antigens inactivate the tumor suppressors p53 and retinoblastoma-family proteins. They described growth factors that stimulate mesothelial cell proliferation, including EGF, TNF, PDGF, HGF, KGF, TGF and insulin-like growth factors. They also described asbestos-induced activation of the ERK signaling pathway, reported partly from their own laboratory. They then commented on a study by Cacciotti and colleagues in the same journal issue. That study showed that SV40 infection caused human mesothelial cells to release vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which induced proliferation of human umbilical vein cells in co-culture, an effect abrogated by VEGF antibodies. The authors proposed that creating a favorable tumor environment may be one mechanism by which SV40 cooperates with asbestos. They suggested that blocking growth factor pathways may be critical to prevention and therapy of mesothelioma.

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 article is a short commentary, labelled a "Perspective", rather than a report of a new study. The authors reviewed published research on how simian virus 40 (SV40), a DNA virus, and asbestos may be involved in malignant mesothelioma, a tumor of the cells lining the pleural and peritoneal cavities. They summarized earlier work suggesting that several growth factors may help mesothelial cells multiply. They also described their own laboratory's earlier findings that asbestos fibers set off a cell-signaling pathway called ERK in mesothelial and epithelial cells. The commentary focused on a separate paper by Cacciotti and coworkers in the same journal issue. That paper reported that SV40 infection made human mesothelial cells release VEGF, a growth factor that helps tumors grow blood vessels. It also reported that human umbilical vein cells grown alongside these cells multiplied, and that adding antibodies to VEGF blocked this. The authors suggested this may be one way SV40 acts together with asbestos. They concluded that identifying and blocking growth factor pathways may be critical to prevention and therapy of 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: Commentary (Perspective article) reviewing published research; no new study reported
• Who was studied: No study population of its own. The article discusses published laboratory, animal and human research, centred on a paper by Cacciotti and coworkers published in the same journal issue.
• Exposure: Simian virus 40 (SV40) and asbestos, and how growth factors and cell-signaling pathways may link them to mesothelioma
• Main results:
  • The commentary reported that the separate paper by Cacciotti and coworkers found that SV40 infection causes human mesothelial cells to release vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).
  • According to the commentary, in the Cacciotti co-culture experiments, human umbilical vein cells (HUVEC) multiplied, and adding antibodies to VEGF blocked this.
  • From the research they reviewed, the authors suggested that multiple growth factors may be integral to mesothelial cell proliferation.
  • The authors described their own laboratory's earlier work showing that asbestos fibers stimulate ERK signaling in mesothelial and epithelial cells.
  • The authors suggested that a tumor-favoring environment created through VEGF may be one way SV40 acts together with asbestos.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that identifying and blocking the pathways by which growth factors are increased and released, and by which their receptors are activated, may be critical to prevention and therapy of mesothelioma.

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: SV40, Mesothelioma, Asbestos Exposure, Prognosis, Mesothelial Cells, Platelet-Derived Growth Factor (PDGF).

Related studies

• Differential responses to growth factors by normal human mesothelial cultures from individual donors — J.F. Lechner, M.A. LaVeck, et al. (1989)
• The presence of simian-virus 40 sequences in mesothelioma and mesothelial cells is associated with high levels of vascular endothelial growth factor — P. Cacciotti, L. Strizzi, et al. (2002)
• Comparing milled fiber, Quebec ore, and textile factory dust: has another piece of the asbestos puzzle fallen into place? — D.W. Berman (2010)
• Letter to the editor: "Comparing milled fiber, Quebec ore, and textile factory dust: has another piece of the asbestos puzzle fallen into place?" by D. Wayne Berman — J.M. Dement, L.T. Stayner (2010)
• Expression of growth factor and growth factor receptor RNA in rat pleural mesothelial cells in culture — E. Bermudez, J. Everitt, et al. (1990)
• Proliferation of rat pleural mesothelial cells in response to hepatocyte and keratinocyte growth factors — I.Y. Adamson, J. Bakowska, et al. (2000)

Browse more research in American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, or return to medical research.