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\Medical Definition of simian virus 40
: a double-stranded DNA virus of the genus Polyomavirus (species Simian virus 40) that infects monkeys and has been shown experimentally to cause tumors in laboratory rodents
— called also SV40
Note: Simian virus 40 was first discovered in the early 1960s in cultures of kidney cells which were derived from rhesus monkeys and used to prepare polio vaccines. Antibodies to simian virus 40 have been detected in humans, and DNA of simian virus 40 has been isolated from human tumors.
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