Oncogenesis and Poliomyelitis Vaccine

Abstract

POLIOMYELITIS vaccine is usually prepared from monkey kidney culture, and some batches of vaccine have contained simian virus 40 (SV40) which is known to be oncogenic for certain laboratory animals. Fraumeni et al.¹ investigated the carcinogenicity of this virus in man after its inadvertent introduction into humans by mass immunization with contaminated poliomyelitis vaccine. They found that from 1955 to 1959 the leukaemia mortality rates/100,000 rose from 3.5 to 3.8 for children 5–9 yr old, and from 2.2 to 2.5 for children 10–14 yr old. They were uncertain of the significance of this rise, but were able to exclude SV40 as a cause of it in one group of 6–8 year olds. The oncogenic potential of parenterally administered poliomyelitis vaccine is examined here.