Background | SV40, Simian Virus 40 is a polyomavirus that is found in both monkeys and humans. Like other polyomaviruses, SV40 is a DNA virus that has the potential to cause tumors. SV40 is believed to suppress the transcriptional properties of tumor-suppressing p53 in humans through the SV40 large T-antigen and SV40 small T-antigen. It is generally assumed that large T-antigen is the major protein involved in neoplastic processes and the large T-antigen predominantly exerts its effect through deregulation of tumor suppressor p53, which is responsible for initiating regulated cell death (“apoptosis”) , or cell cycle arrest when a cell is damaged. A mutated p53 gene may contribute to uncontrolled cellular proliferation, leading to a tumor. |
Information sourced from Uniprot.org