sickness due to genetech ?

[Berthe M. Willumsen]

I stuff deleted

> 2. I'm not sure, but I always believed that SV40 is viable in humans, so if it
> carried an oncogene it could readily propagate and cause disease -  The
> principle of viral oncogenes is well known (let's face it, it's how genes
> such as src and ras were discovered). I think it is not unlikely that an
> oncogene cloned into SV40 would be tumour-inducing.
> 
> Robin Walters.                      Robert Hill Institute, Sheffield UK.



Don't forget that SV40 was a contaminant virus in the polio vaccine we all
received in the 50'ties; its oncogenicity in humans must be one of the best
studied in the world. If it was anywhere near that of the experimental
lab-retroviruses like ras and src in their hosts, we would know.



Berthe Willumsen
Dept. Molecular and Cellular Biology
Univ. Copenhagen
bmw at biobase.aau.dk