Thursday, December 9, 2010
EBV and XMRV - a new disease model
An unpublished Spanish study reveals what could possibly unlock the mysteries of CFS. EBV is a common herpesvirus that almost 95% of the population carries by adulthood according to the CDC, however it seldom produces disease. In a percentage of the population it causes infectious mononucleosis, but afterwards remains dormant in immune system cells. It brings the question - Could EBV or another herpesvirus be the key that unlocks the door for XMRV - quite possibly. Once XMRV enters a cell, it could quite conceivably create an immune dysfunction that allows EBV to reactivate at a low level, fuelling a vicious cycle - through EBV producing a gene that downregulates APOBEC3, somewhat like the HIV vif protein does.
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If this is to be the new model for ME where does that leave people like myself who have been environmentally poisoned, i was poisoned in utero by photographic chemicals & people who have been pesticide poisoned & then have been diagnosed with ME? So what do we have?
ReplyDeleteI am hoping that those that are XMRV negative will still be aided by immune modulators. An immune profile measurig Cytokine's and other measurements could be used to diagnose and measure progress. The WPI and Nancy Klimas are doing immune profile work.
ReplyDeleteHi Dr. Luckett,
ReplyDeleteI have read the abstract that the Spanish team presented at the XMRV Workshop in Maryland, but I don't see anything there that suggests a possible connection between EBV and XMRV. Are you referring to other unpublished material beyond this? If not, it appears to me that the only mention of EBV in their abstract was that they immortalized patient B cells with EBV as a means of culturing for XMRV. We don't know the EBV status of any of these patients, so I don't see any evidence of a connection there so far. Could you please clarify/explain further what you meant? Thanks.
@DY - I read elsewhere that there was a Spanish study to come out December 10, with research on immune aspects of ME/CFS, but I haven't yet seen it. That may be what Dr. L is talking about.
ReplyDeleteAs for the theory that other viruses open the door for XMRV or vice versa, that is not a new theory. It just hasn't been researched thoroughly yet.
WPI found that ME/CFS patients have 20-30 other viruses on average, in addition to XMRV/MuLVs, while the controls had 2-3 other viruses, if my memory serves, which it may not on the exact numbers. Other research has found that in some cases, these viruses "hybridize" - exchange genetic information - with each other and sometimes with other microbes such as bacteria.
Hey Oerganix! :)
ReplyDeleteThe Spanish group's paper has not come out yet, but there was a conference the other day at which they presented some of their findings; about the clearest summary I've seen of this presentation is by sergio on the PR thread about it. He did not note any mention by these researchers of EBV beyond its use for B cell immortalization. The hypotheses of herpes virus roles as co-factors in XMRV causation of ME/CFS are compelling indeed; however, unless Dr. Luckett has heard more than we have, I don't think these researchers have found further evidence to support such hypotheses... but if they have I'd really like to hear about it!!
Wouldn't we all like to hear about it! Yes. I'm sure there is a lot of research out there that we haven't heard about yet, including the "drawerful of papers" WPI hasn't had accepted, and many more. There's far too much CYA going on in the political/scientific arena.
ReplyDeleteRight now I am so jazzed by Dr Luckett's "Ms. X"'s recovery using the ARV's found to be effective against XMRV, and the similar successes of Dr Jamie Deckoff-Jones, her daughter, and Dr Michael Snyderman, that I have less interest in more theoretical research and more interest in clinical trials. I remember a year ago when Dr Coffin said the only way to find out for sure whether XMRV was the "culprit" was to treat with ARVs and see if patients got better. He's sort of backed away from that in the interim, but he was right then and so are the others who say TREAT NOW! for those who fit the right profile and want to take the rather small risks associated with those drugs. After all, they are now giving ARVs to healthy people to prevent HIV infection.
We are not lab rats to be stored up until some group of researchers decides it's time to use us. We are patients who need the best treatment available in the here and now.
I tested positive for XMRV. I have more proof than ever that I am 'biologically ill' and still no help is coming. Hurry up before this retrovirus kills me!!
ReplyDeleteI have been on Arv's and they stink. What they relieve they give back to you in other fashions. Just read the side effects listed for Raltegrarvir and tenofovir. I have been on them for 4 months with little improvement regarding my XMRV positive serology. They also kill you liver and kidneys. Liver and kidney function tests have to be done monthly and these drugs were originally designed for HIV in which doctors say that if the medicines don't kill you that some other fungus, bacteria, or virus will because you have immune deficiency. Also... better drugs need to be developed. HIV contaminate other calls via the ccr5 cell receptor and XMRV does it through the xpr1 and SYG1 cell receptors. These arv's are only inhibitors and not stoppers. They only slow the progression.... they do not reverse it.
ReplyDelete