The simian virus 40 (monkey virus, SV40) belongs to the Polyomaviridae family, naked viruses with a double-stranded circular DNA of about 5 kb. It was first identified and isolated in the ‘60s from the kidney cells of a Macacus rhesus monkey used for the preparation of antipolio vaccines.
This virus was, therefore, accidentally spread among the human population through the administration of antipolio vaccines between 1955 and 1963. Currently, there appears to be a correlation between the onset of malignant mesothelioma and the simultaneous presence of SV40 virus and asbestos exposure.1
Together with JCV and BKV, SV40 can be associated to the appearance of neurologic disorders and tumours in HIV-positive patients.2 The identification of SV40 DNA in bone-marrow transplanted children and adults suggests that this polyomavirus might be involved in the development of late-onset hemorrhagic cystitis3 and is currently correlated with tumour diseases such as mesothelioma, osteosarcoma, brain tumours and lymphomas.
The infection is detected by the presence of the virus in stool and urine (viruria). Vaccines prepared with cells of animal or human origin and therapeutic products of cellular origin are all potentially liable to being contaminated by viruses. Thus, the use of monitoring methods is required to guarantee the absence of viral contaminations in these biological products.
In particular, SV40 has been commonly used as a viral model to define the robustness of productive procedures aiming at guaranteeing the absence of viral contaminations.
Euro RT-SV40 - cod. 9154 – Real Time PCR Test for the quantitative determination of the polyomaviruses SV40.
The kit contains a 5 standard calibration that allows simultaneous quantification of both viral target and internal control (human ß –globin). This feature allows to calculate the percentage of infected cells in the tissue samples (biopsy) .
Analytical Sensitivity - LOD - 1 copy/µl
Dynamic Range - da 1.5 x106 a 1 x100 copies/µl
Diagnostic Sensitivity- 100%
Diagnostic Specificity- > 99.
