July 2, 2003

(Journal of the National Cancer Institute) -- A British study has found no evidence of simian virus 40 (SV40) DNA in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) samples, challenging the theory that exposure to SV40-contaminated poliovirus vaccine in the 1950s and 1960s is associated with the development of NHL.

Jane MacKenzie, Ruth F. Jarrett, and their colleagues from the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom, looked for the presence of SV40 DNA in 259 blood and tumor samples from patients in the U.K. with lymphadenopathy and lymphoid leukemia. The researchers did not detect SV40 DNA in any lymphoid sample examined. "Because the incidence of NHL is similar in the United Kingdom and the United States, this finding suggests that SV40 is unlikely to have an etiologic role in NHL," the researchers conclude.