Scientists investigate virus link to lymphoma

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Wed, 19 Jul 2006 21:07:35 +1000

Scientists investigate virus link to lymphoma

 

 

from Mediwire 26May

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http://www.medwire-news.md/news/article.aspx?k=53 & id=57225

 

 

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Weekly service published on Fridays that offers the general public and

patients suffering with lymphoma, particularly non-Hodgkin's lymphoma,

news about the latest treatments for the condition and improvements in

patient quality of life.

 

 

Scientists investigate virus link to lymphoma

26 May 2006

University of Rochester

 

Researchers in the USA are to study whether there is a link between

the simian virus 40 (SV40) and an increased risk of non-Hodgkin's

lymphoma in humans.

 

SV40 is a virus that originated in monkeys and has been associated

with an increased risk of lymphoma in these animals. Between 1955 and

1963, an estimated 150 million people worldwide may have received a

polio vaccine that was contaminated with SV40.

 

It is has therefore been proposed that the contaminated polio vaccine

may have been responsible for a significant increase in the number of

people affected by lymphoma in the latter half of the 20th Century.

 

However, although many large studies have examined a possible link

between SV40 and cancer, they have produced conflicting results,

explain scientists from the University of Rochester in New York.

 

" There are still many questions about the virus and whether it

contributes to the development of cancer, " said lead research Dr Susan

Fisher. " Ultimately, if we are able to pinpoint the virus as a source

of cancer, scientists can work to engineer therapies that will target

the virus and improve the treatments for cancer. "

 

For their 5-year study, which is being supported by the National

Cancer Institute, the researchers will analyse tissue samples taken

from 300 people with lymphoma or non-cancerous conditions for

antibodies to SV40.

 

If evidence of SV40 infection is found among the lymphoma patients,

the researchers will then test blood samples taken from these

patients' families to see if they also carry the viral antibodies.

 

Dr Fisher concluded: " If we find family clusters with the virus, it

will help us determine how the virus is transmitted.

 

" This may offer another important clue in the advancement of cancer

research and care. "

 

University website

 

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