Infrequent existence of simian virus 40 large T antigen DNA in malignant mesothelioma in Japan

Cancer Science. 2006 Apr; 97(4):292-5. [Link]

Keisuke Aoe^1,3,11, Akio Hiraki^1,10, Tomoyuki Murakami^2,3, Shinichi Toyooka⁴, Narayan Shivapurkar⁵, Adi F. Gazdar⁵, Naoko Sueoka⁶, Koji Taguchi⁷, Toshiaki Kamei⁹, Hiroyasu Takeyama¹, Kazuro Sugi³ and Takumi Kishimoto⁸

Departments of ¹Respiratory Medicine, ²Pathology, and ³Clinical Research, NHO Sanyo National Hospital, 685 Higashi-kiwa, Ube, Yamaguchi 755-0241; ⁴Department of Cancer and Thoracic Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, Okayama, Japan;⁵Hamon Center for Therapeutic Oncology Research and Department of Pathology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA; ⁶Department of Internal Medicine, Saga University Medical School, 5-1-1 Nabeshima, Saga, Saga 849-8501; Departments of ⁷Pathology and ⁸Internal Medicine, Okayama Rosai Hospital, 1-10-25 Chikko Midori-machi, Okayama, Okayama 702-8055, and ⁸Department of Pathology, Yamaguchi Prefectural Central Hospital, 77 Oaza-Oosaki, Boufu, Yamaguchi 747-8511, Japan

Abstract

Malignant mesothelioma is the most common primary pleural neoplasm. Association of simian virus 40 (SV40) with malignant mesothelioma has been reported, suggesting that SV40 plays an important role in the origin of a subset of these tumors. However, significant geographic variation is present as to how often this association occurs. As no study concerning SV40 in malignant mesothelioma has been reported from Japan, we examined the frequency of SV40 infection in Japanese malignant mesothelioma cases. In pleural malignant mesothelioma tissue from 35 patients in Japan, we sought the presence of SV40 large T antigen DNA using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), as well as expression of the viral protein using immunohistological methods. Real-time PCR demonstrated that two of 35 mesotheliomas contained DNA sequences encoding portions of SV40 large T antigen. None of the 35 malignant mesothelioma specimens showed immunoreactivity for SV40 large T antigen. SV40 infection does not appear to have a major role in the development of malignant mesothelioma in Japan.