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 of DNA
sequences consistent with those of SV40. IERF has 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 Mic

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 Mesothelioma (Download thePDF File)

Grunerite Asbestos