Hear the story of Merck and the Green monkey SV40 virus … from Dr Maurice Hillerman and from the Presentation at the”Twentieth Century Plagues” Symposium 1.3.1996.
SV-40 infection is now widespread within the human population almost certainly as a result of poliovaccine produced in rhesus monkey kidney cells during the 1950s. A recent study showed infection in 23% of blood samples from normal individuals. The virus can also be detected in sperm fluid and is likely to be passed congenitally to future generations.
SV40 is an abbreviation for Simian vacuolating virus 40 or Simian virus 40, a polyomavirus that is found in both monkeys and humans. Like other polyomaviruses, SV40 is a DNA virus that has the potential to cause tumors, but most often persists as a latent infection.
The virus was first identified in 1960 in cultures of rhesus monkey kidney cells that were being used to produce polio vaccine. It was named for the effect it produced on infected green monkey cells, which developed an unusual number of vacuoles.
The complete DNAWalter Fiers and his team at the University of Ghent (Belgium) in 1978[1]. The virus is dormant and shows no visible effects in Rhesus monkeys. The virus has been found in many macaque populations in the wild, where it rarely causes disease.
However, in monkeys that are immunodeficient—due to, for example, infection with Simian immunodeficiency virus—SV40 acts much like the human JC and BK polyomaviruses, producing kidney disease and sometimes a demyelinating disease similar to PML.
In other species, particularly hamsters, SV40 causes a variety of tumors, generally sarcomas. In rats, the oncogenic SV40 Large T-antigen was used to establish a brain tumor model for PNETs and medulloblastomas.
…. information related to the simian virus 40 (SV40) and it’s possible connection to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. We believe there are compelling reasons to further explore the following: (1) how SV40 interacts with human DNA ; (2) how it may spread from person to person; (3) how this virus might potentially cause and/or promote lymphomas and other cancers; (4) If SV40 contributes to drug resistance, for example, by silencing p53, and; (5) how the SV40 antigen might be exploited as a treatment target for immune-based therapies.
#1 by Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy PML on October 14, 2011 - 10:16 pm
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I`m not a specialist in biology, but I share a great amount of interest in the field. This article was like reading a science fiction article form me, with the difference here that I know this is only science that I hardly understand. I read a few articles about PML and the JC virus.
You said that SV40 acts similarly in monkeys as the JC in humans. I am concerned about the future complications of this virus. Here is what i`m thinking about when I say I`m concerned:
-can the SV40 mutate in future generations to the extend to be fatal to humans?
#2 by allen on November 19, 2011 - 8:55 am
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albert sabin said siv(sv-40) was the parent virus of hiv . sv-40 was the old name from 1960
the focus changed with the realization in 1985 that siv was sv-40 in the rna stage . hiv is identical just being in human host .. sv-40 is the dna stage of the same virus . siv is the progeny virus . it may appear that siv or hiv came from chimp . i disagree . its the host . some humans are closer to chimp genetically some less . all chimps are usually A bloods . the host couls mutate the basic virus to generate jc or bk , its called changing the trophy of the virus . these things are like signaling molecules . the dna syage can integrate to the host genome .