Association of BK virus with human brain tumors and tumors of pancreatic islets.

BK virus (BKV) DNA was detected by Southern blot hybridization in 19 out of 74 (25.6%) human brain tumors and in 4 out of 9 (44.4%) human tumors of pancreatic islets. BKV DNA was free, in an episomal state and generally in a low copy number (0.2 to 2 genome equivalents per cell). Only occasional tumors contained 10 to 20 genome copies per cell. Viral DNA sequences integrated into cellular DNA were not detected. A number of tumors expressed BKV-specific RNA and T antigen. By transfection of total tumor DNA into human embryonic fibroblasts, viruses with the biological and antigenic properties of BKV were rescued from 6 brain tumors and from 2 tumors of pancreatic islets. Restriction endonuclease mapping of the genomes of the rescued viruses showed that they differ from wild-type BKV. They are all similar to each other and to BKV-IR, a virus previously rescued from a human tumor of pancreatic islets, suggesting the possible association of a BKV variant with specific types of human neoplasms. The significance of the relationship of these BKV variants to human tumors and their possible etiologic role in human oncogenesis are discussed.