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Human Polyomaviruses: Molecular and Clinical Perspectives.
Virus Research 89 (2002) 155 www.elsevier.com/locate/virusres
Book review Human Polyomaviruses: Molecular and Clinical Perspectives. Edited by K. Khalili, G.L. Stoner. Chichester, Sussex, UK: Wiley & Sons Ltd, £115.00; ISBN: 0471390097 As you get older time must go by faster, because it does not seem like 30 years ago two human polyomaviruses, JC and BK virus, were first isolated from two patients, whose initials make up the name of the viruses. Since in the early part of my career I worked for a short time with both JC and BK virus, this book for me, was a lesson in catching up on what has happened in the understanding of the pathogenesis and molecular biology of these two viruses. The first four chapters are an excellent perspective on the discovery of these viruses, by the people involved at the time, and catalogues their attempts to culture the viruses, especially JC, which was only able to be isolated in primary human brain cells containing a high percentage of glial cells. Subsequent chapters deal with the molecular dissection of their evolution, transcription, replication and pathogenesis. As someone now working on human tumor viruses, the chapters discussing the possible role of BK, JC and SV40, in some human brain tumors were particularly interesting. The name of the group of viruses is historical and results from the early work on mouse polyoma and SV40 viruses when they were shown to cause tumors in hamsters and in some circumstances for polyoma virus, in mice. There are three chapters describing the association of JC, BK and SV40 viruses with mainly brain cancers and mesothe-
liomas. These chapters are comprehensive and well balanced and, although there is no definitive conclusion as to a causative relationship between the viruses and the tumors, the case is well set out in each of the chapters. One additional chapter is devoted to epidemiological evidence of the association of SV40 with cancers as the early polio vaccine was contaminated with SV40. Here the authors found no increase in tumors associated with the vaccine, suggesting that SV40 is not the cause of cancers, although, as the authors agree, the epidemiological methods used could not detect a small increase in tumors amongst vaccine recipients. There is still a lot we do not know about the human polyomaviruses, such as how they are usually transmitted, what is the significance of the rearrangements at the control region of JC found in all the PML isolated viruses but not in the viruses circulating in the community, are these viruses the cause of certain cancers or are they a passenger and should they therefore be called polyomaviruses? This is an excellent book that will appeal to senior college and graduate students, scientists and clinicians in the fields of virology, neurology and oncology.
0168-1702/02/$ - see front matter © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S0168-1702(02)00050-3
Dennis J. McCance Microbiology and Immunology, Uni6ersity of Rochester, 601 Elmwood Road, Rochester, NY 14642, USA E-mail: [email protected] 6 March 2002
Book review Human Polyomaviruses: Molecular and Clinical Perspectives. Edited by K. Khalili, G.L. Stoner. Chichester, Sussex, UK: Wiley & Sons Ltd, £115.00; ISBN: 0471390097 As you get older time must go by faster, because it does not seem like 30 years ago two human polyomaviruses, JC and BK virus, were first isolated from two patients, whose initials make up the name of the viruses. Since in the early part of my career I worked for a short time with both JC and BK virus, this book for me, was a lesson in catching up on what has happened in the understanding of the pathogenesis and molecular biology of these two viruses. The first four chapters are an excellent perspective on the discovery of these viruses, by the people involved at the time, and catalogues their attempts to culture the viruses, especially JC, which was only able to be isolated in primary human brain cells containing a high percentage of glial cells. Subsequent chapters deal with the molecular dissection of their evolution, transcription, replication and pathogenesis. As someone now working on human tumor viruses, the chapters discussing the possible role of BK, JC and SV40, in some human brain tumors were particularly interesting. The name of the group of viruses is historical and results from the early work on mouse polyoma and SV40 viruses when they were shown to cause tumors in hamsters and in some circumstances for polyoma virus, in mice. There are three chapters describing the association of JC, BK and SV40 viruses with mainly brain cancers and mesothe-
liomas. These chapters are comprehensive and well balanced and, although there is no definitive conclusion as to a causative relationship between the viruses and the tumors, the case is well set out in each of the chapters. One additional chapter is devoted to epidemiological evidence of the association of SV40 with cancers as the early polio vaccine was contaminated with SV40. Here the authors found no increase in tumors associated with the vaccine, suggesting that SV40 is not the cause of cancers, although, as the authors agree, the epidemiological methods used could not detect a small increase in tumors amongst vaccine recipients. There is still a lot we do not know about the human polyomaviruses, such as how they are usually transmitted, what is the significance of the rearrangements at the control region of JC found in all the PML isolated viruses but not in the viruses circulating in the community, are these viruses the cause of certain cancers or are they a passenger and should they therefore be called polyomaviruses? This is an excellent book that will appeal to senior college and graduate students, scientists and clinicians in the fields of virology, neurology and oncology.
0168-1702/02/$ - see front matter © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S0168-1702(02)00050-3
Dennis J. McCance Microbiology and Immunology, Uni6ersity of Rochester, 601 Elmwood Road, Rochester, NY 14642, USA E-mail: [email protected] 6 March 2002