Role of simian virus 40 in cancer incidence in solid organ transplant patients

Transplant recipients have an increased risk of developing cancer in comparison with the general population. We present here data on cancer development in transplanted subjects who received organs from donors whose DNA was previously examined for the genomic insertion of Simian Virus 40 (SV40). Active follow-up of 387 recipients of solid organs donated by 134 donors, not clinically affected by cancer, was performed through the National Transplant Center (NTC). The average length of follow-up after transplant was 671±219 days (range 0–1085 days). Out of 134 proposed donors, 120 were utilised for organ donation. Of these, 12 (10%) were classified as positive for SV40 genomic insertion. None of the 41 recipients of organs from SV40 positive donors developed a tumour during the follow-up. In all, 11 recipients of organs given by SV40 negative donors developed a tumour (cancer incidence: 0.015 per year). In conclusion, cancer rates observed in our study are comparable to what reported by the literature in transplanted patients. Recipients of solid organs from SV40 positive donors do not have an increased risk of cancer after transplant. The role of SV40 in carcinogenesis in transplanted patients may be minimal.