ArticlemSphere2020
Does the Evidence Support the Existence of the Simian Polyomavirus SV40 Vp4 Viroporin?
Article in mSphere, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Minimal Genome, Maximal Effect: How Polyomavirus Genomes Are Capable of Complex Pathogenesis.Viruses · 2026Review
- Review
- SV40 Polyomavirus Activates the Ras-MAPK Signaling Pathway for Vacuolization, Cell Death, and Virus Release.Viruses · 2020Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The simian polyomavirus SV40 was reported to express Vp4, an N-terminally truncated form of the minor capsid proteins Vp2 and Vp3. Since a missense mutation of the putative Vp4 start codon (Vp2M228I) was found to give reduced progeny release and delayed lysis, Vp4 was claimed to be a viroporin. However, two independent research groups, including our own, were unable to replicate these findings. In contrast, we found no Vp4 expression in SV40-infected cells and no reduction in progeny release for Vp4-deficient virus, and finally, we found that the single amino acid substitution unavoidably introduced into the overlapping Vp2/Vp3 genes during Vp4 mutagenesis reduced early steps but not virus release. Remarkably, the existence of the viroporin Vp4 still seems to be widely accepted, which presumably is preventing important research on polyomavirus release. With this perspective, we will review and comment on the most important experiments that led to the disputed announcement of the viroporin Vp4.
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.