High prevalence of antibodies reacting to mimotopes of Simian virus 40 large T antigen, the oncoprotein, in serum samples of patients affected by non-Hodgkin lymphoma

This study allowed us to assay a new sera collection from non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients (NHL,n = 254). To verify the association between NHL and SV40 Tag, two totally independent cohorts were analysed: NHL1n = 150 and NHL2n = 104. The epidemiological survey included sera from HS1,n = 150; HS2,n = 104 and BC,n = 78. This new indirect ELISA revealed that antibodies against SV40 Tag mimotopes are detectable in NHL1 and NHL2 sera with a prevalence of 37 and 36%, respectively. The prevalence of SV40-antibodies detected in both NHL1 and NHL2 cohorts differs statistically from controls, at 19% for HS1 (p <  0.01), HS2 (p <  0.05) and BC patients (p <  0.05). This study, carried out with an immunological assay with specific Tag oncoprotein mimotopes of Simian virus 40, reports the presence of IgG antibodies against the large Tumour antigen in non-Hodgkin lymphomas for the first time. Our immunological data with two independent NHL cohorts show a statistically significant association between Simian virus 40 Tag and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. These results suggest that SV40-positive non-Hodgkin lymphomas could be treated differently from those tested SV40-negative.
Source: Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research