SV40 and the lung
Subsequent to its identification as an inadvertent contaminant of early poliovirus vaccines and in view of its potential to induce a number of tumors in animal models, simian virus 40 (SV40) has become among the most studied animal viruses. Studies of SV40's molecular biology have led to important discoveries in viral-induced carcinogenesis, but the actual role for SV40 in the causation of human disease remains a complex and highly debated topic. The inadvertent exposure to SV40 through contaminated vaccine lots, affecting millions of people in the United States alone, has sparked one of the most elaborate, contentious, and controversial debates in contemporary oncologic research. It is the purpose of this chapter to review the capacity of the virus to infect humans and to cause disease, particularly in the lung and its serosal membrane, the pleura.