Simian virus 40 | |
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Virus classification | |
(unranked): | Virus |
Realm: | Monodnaviria |
Kingdom: | Shotokuvirae |
Phylum: | Cossaviricota |
Class: | Papovaviricetes |
Order: | Sepolyvirales |
Family: | Polyomaviridae |
Genus: | Betapolyomavirus |
Species: | |
Virus: | Simian virus 40
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Synonyms | |
simian vacuolating virus 40, SV40 |
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 sometimes causes tumors in animals, but most often persists as a latent infection. SV40 has been widely studied as a model eukaryotic virus, leading to many early discoveries in eukaryotic DNA replication[1] and transcription.[2]
Following contamination of polio vaccine batches in the 1950s and 1960s, SV40 came under suspicion as a possible cancer risk, but no subsequent increased cancer rate was observed, making such a risk unlikely. Nevertheless SV40 has become a cause célèbre for anti-vaccination activists, who have blamed it for multiple ills, including cancer and HIV/AIDS.[3]
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