Sunday, February 12, 2012

It's worse than I thought

Back then, when I wrote about the rate of positive patients being anything between 67, 68, 75 and 99 (out of 101), I missed this:

86 patients.

(85%, this equals 86 out of 101)
Distribution of xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) infection in chronic fatigue syndrome and prostate cancer.

Mikovits JA, Huang Y, Pfost MA, Lombardi VC, Bertolette DC, Hagen KS, Ruscetti FW.

Journal "AIDS Reviews"
VOLUME 12 - NUMBER 3 / July - September 2010

Abstract

In 2006, sequences described as xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) were discovered in prostate cancer patients.

In October 2009, we published the first direct isolation of infectious XMRV from humans and the detection of infectious XMRV in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

In that study, a combination of classic retroviral methods were used including:
  • DNA polymerase chain reaction and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction for gag and env, 
  • full length genomic sequencing, 
  • immunoblotting for viral protein expression in activated peripheral blood mononuclear cells, 
  • passage of infectious virus in both plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells to indicator cell lines, 
  • and detection of antibodies to XMRV in plasma.

A combination of these methods has since allowed us to confirm infection by XMRV in 85% of the 101 patients that were originally studied.

Since 2009, seven studies, predominantly using DNA polymerase chain reaction of blood products or tumor tissue, have reported failures to detect XMRV infection in patients with either prostate cancer or chronic fatigue syndrome.

A review of the current literature on XMRV supports the importance of applying multiple independent techniques in order to determine the presence of this virus.

Detection methods based upon the biological and molecular amplification of XMRV, which is usually present at low levels in unstimulated blood cells and plasma, are more sensitive than assays for the virus by DNA polymerase chain reaction of unstimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

When we examined patient blood samples that had originally tested negative by DNA polymerase chain reaction by more sensitive methods, we observed that they were infected with XMRV; thus, the DNA polymerase chain reaction tests provided false negative results.

Therefore, we conclude that molecular analyses using DNA from unstimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells or from whole blood are not yet sufficient as stand-alone assays for the identification of XMRV-infected individuals.

Complementary methods are reviewed, that if rigorously followed, will likely show a more accurate snapshot of the actual distribution of XMRV infection in humans.
The PDF is available here.

Unfortunately it is not stated when this review was submitted.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are most welcome! But please:

- No SPAM whatsoever, no supplements, no pharmaceuticals, no herbs or any other advertisements

- Absolutely no quack-doctors pushing their quack-BS websites (and if you are a quack, I will call you out)

- Be critical if you want to, but try to be coherent

Comments are moderated, because I am tired of Gerwyn-V99-The-Idiot and his moronic sockpuppets, and tired of the story of the two dogs, but I will try to publish everything else.

If you are not Gerwyn (and want to tell me something other than the story of the two dogs), then relax and write something! :-)

Labels

5-AZA A. Melvin Ramsay Acne Advocacy Alan Light Alternative medicine is an untested danger Ampligen Andrew Wakefield Anecdote Anthony Komaroff Antibiotics Antibodies Anxiety Aphthous Ulcers Apnea Asthma Autism Autoimmune Disease Behçet’s Ben Katz Bertrand Russell Biology Blood sugar Bruce Carruthers Caffeine Calcium Cancer Capitalism Cardiology Carmen Scheibenbogen CBT/GET CDC Celiac Disease Cereal Grains CFIDS Chagas Charité Charles Lapp Christopher Snell Chronix Clinician Coconut Milk Cognition Common Sense and Confirmation Bias Conversion Disorder Coxiella Burnetii Coxsackie Criteria Crohn's Cushing's Syndrome Cytokine Daniel Peterson Darwinism David Bell Depression Diabetes Diagnostic Differential Disease Diseases of Affluence DNA DNA Sequencing Dog DSM5 EBV EEG Eggs Elaine DeFreitas Elimination Diet Enterovirus Epstein-Barr ERV Etiology Evolution Exercise Challenge Faecal Transplant Fame and Fraud and Medical Science Fatigue Fatty Acids Fibromyalgia Francis Ruscetti Fructose Gene Expression Genetics Giardia Gordon Broderick Gulf War Illness Gut Microbiome Harvey Alter Health Care System Hemispherx Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome Herpesviridae High Blood Pressure Historic Outbreaks HIV HPV Hyperlipid Ian Hickie Ian Lipkin Immune System Infection Intermittent Fasting It's the environment stupid Jacob Teitelbaum Jamie Deckoff-Jones Jo Nijs John Chia John Coffin John Maddox José Montoya Judy Mikovits Karl Popper Kathleen Light Kenny De Meirleir Lactose Lamb Laszlo Mechtler LCMV Lecture Leonard Jason Leukemia Life Liver Loren Cordain Low Carb Low-Dose Naltrexone (LDN) Luc Montagnier Lucinda Bateman Ludicrous Notions Lumpers and Splitters Lyme Mady Hornig Mark Hasslett Martin Lerner Mary Schweitzer MCS ME/CFS Medical Industry Medicine is not based on anecdotes Michael Maes Migraine Milk and Dairy Mitochondria MMR Money and Fame and Fraud MRI Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Multiple Sclerosis Mutton My Symptoms n-1 Nancy Klimas Narcolepsy Neurodermitis Neuroscience NK-Cell Nocebo NSAID Nutrition Obesity On Nutrition Pain Paleo Parathyroid Pathogen Paul Cheney PCR Pharmaceutical Industry Picornavirus Placebo Polio Post Exertional Malaise POTS/OI/NMH PTSD PUFA Q Fever Quote Rare Disease Research Retrovirus Rheumatoid Arthritis Rituximab RNA Robert Gallo Robert Lustig Robert Silverman Robert Suhadolnik Rosario Trifiletti Sarah Myhill Sarcasm Science Sequencing Seth Roberts Shrinks vs. Medicine Shyh-Ching Lo Simon Wessely Sinusitis Sjögren's Somnolence Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik Speculation Stanislaw Burzynski Statins Stefan Duschek Study Sucrose Sugar Supplements Symptoms T1DM T2DM There is no such thing as Chronic Lyme There is no such thing as HGRV Thyroid Tinitus To Do Toni Bernhard Tourette's Treatment Tuberculosis Vaccine Video Vincent Lombardi Vincent Racaniello Virus Vitamin B Vitamin D VP62 When Evidence Based Medicine Isn't Whooping Cough Wolfgang Lutz WPI XMRV You fail science forever