Anti-SV40 antibodies as infection markers for assessing additional risk factors in workers previously exposed to asbestos

Although the prevalence of asbestos exposure among malignant mesothelioma (MM) patients is very high, only a relatively small percentage of workers previously exposed to asbestos develop a MM. This observation suggests that some tumoral agents may act as a co-factor together with asbestos in MM pathogenesis. To date, among the hypothesized cofactors, the Simian Virus 40 (SV40) is one of the most widely investigated and is supported by biomolecular findings. The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence and feasibility of Anti-SV40 Antibodies as an infection marker with preventive application. We found that only 1 MM patient out of 44 (2.7%) and 1 out of 75 workers previosly exposed to asbestos (1.3%) were positive for the detection of Anti-SV40 antibodies. None of the 71 patients with non-neoplastic diseases were positive.