This Volume of the IARC Monographs provides evaluations of malaria (a disease caused by infection with Plasmodium parasites) and four polyomaviruses—simian virus 40 (SV40), and BK, JC and Merkel cell viruses.

The global burden of malaria is enormous, with about 50% of the world's population at risk. In regions where malaria is highly endemic (holoendemic), such as sub-Saharan Afric and Papua New Guinea, a role for malaria has long been suspected in the etiology of endemic Burkitt lymphoma, which in these regions represents up to 70% of childhood cancers.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, millions of people worldwide received vaccines against poliovirus that were contaminated with SV40, a polyomavirus whose natural host is the rhesus macaque.

Infection with human polyomaviruses is widespread in the general population, with the proportion of adults infected ranging from 50% to more than 90% worldwide. BK and JC viruses, first isolated in 1971, are naturally human-tropic polymaviruses that are responsible for rare, lethal, nonmalignant diseases in immunosuppressed people. Merkel cell virus was discovered in 2008 in a rare skin cancer in humans.

An IARC Monographs Working Group reviewed epidemiological evidence, animal bioassays, and mechanistic and other relevant data to reach conclusions as to the carcinogenic hazard to humans of these infections.

Contents

• NOTE TO THE READER
• LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
  • Members
  • Invited Specialists
  • Representatives
  • Observers
  • IARC Secretariat
  • Administrative Assistance
  • Post-meeting Assistance
  • Production Team
• PREAMBLE
  • A. GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND PROCEDURES
  • B. SCIENTIFIC REVIEW AND EVALUATION
  • References
• GENERAL REMARKS
  • 1. Background
  • 2. Malaria
  • 3. Polyomaviruses
  • References
• MALARIA
  • 1. Exposure Data
  • 2. Cancer in Humans
  • 3. Cancer in Experimental Animals
  • 4. Mechanistic and Other Relevant Data
  • 5. Summary of Data Reported
  • 6. Evaluation and Rationale
  • References
• INTRODUCTION TO POLYOMAVIRUSES
  • 1. Discovery
  • 2. Taxonomy and phylogeny
  • 3. Structure of the virion
  • 4. Genomic organization, gene products, and replication
  • 5. Viral life-cycle
  • 6. Host range
  • References
• SIMIAN VIRUS 40
  • 1. Exposure Data
  • 2. Cancer in Humans
  • 3. Cancer in Experimental Animals
  • 4. Mechanistic and Other Relevant Data
  • 5. Summary of Data Reported
  • 6. Evaluation
  • References
• BK POLYOMAVIRUS
  • 1. Exposure Data
  • 2. Cancer in Humans
  • 3. Cancer in Experimental Animals
  • 4. Mechanistic and Other Relevant Data
  • 5. Summary of Data Reported
  • 6. Evaluation
  • References
• JC POLYOMAVIRUS
  • 1. Exposure Data
  • 2. Cancer in Humans
  • 3. Cancer in Experimental Animals
  • 4. Mechanistic and Other Relevant Data
  • 5. Summary of Data Reported
  • 6. Evaluation
  • References
• MERKEL CELL POLYOMAVIRUS
  • 1. Exposure Data
  • 2. Cancer in Humans
  • 3. Cancer in Experimental Animals
  • 4. Mechanistic and Other Relevant Data
  • 5. Summary of Data Reported
  • 6. Evaluation
  • References
• LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Corrigenda to the IARC Monographs are published online at http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Publications/corrigenda.php.

Corrigenda to Volume 104. (PDF, 67K)

This publication represents the views and expert opinions of an IARC Working Group on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, which met in Lyon, 7-14 February 2012

Lyon, France - 2014

IARC MONOGRAPHS

In 1969, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) initiated a programme on the evaluation of the carcinogenic risk of chemicals to humans involving the production of critically evaluated monographs on individual chemicals. The programme was subsequently expanded to include evaluations of carcinogenic risks associated with exposures to complex mixtures, lifestyle factors and biological and physical agents, as well as those in specific occupations. The objective of the programme is to elaborate and publish in the form of monographs critical reviews of data on carcinogenicity for agents to which humans are known to be exposed and on specific exposure situations; to evaluate these data in terms of human risk with the help of international working groups of experts in chemical carcinogenesis and related fields; and to indicate where additional research efforts are needed. The lists of IARC evaluations are regularly updated and are available on the Internet at http://monographs.iarc.fr/.

This programme has been supported since 1982 by Cooperative Agreement U01 CA33193 with the United States (US) National Cancer Institute, Department of Health and Human Services. Additional support has been provided since 1986 by the Health, Safety and Hygiene at Work Unit of the European Commission Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, and since 1992 by the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Department of Health and Human Services. The contents of this volume are solely the responsibility of the Working Group and do not necessarily represent the official views of the US National Cancer Institute, the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the US Department of Health and Human Services, or the European Commission Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.

This volume was made possible, in part, through Cooperative Agreement CR 834012 with the US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development. The contents of this volume do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the US Environmental Protection Agency.

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