xmrv
sa smith | January 7, 2010October 16, 2009--
The science of this paper is fine. Their experiments are fine. And, there is clearly a bias for the presence of XMLV in CFS patients.
BUT, this story doesnt make sense.
October 23, 2009--
This normally 'harmless' virus is more prevalent in certain areas of the world (Africa) than in others (US), and is 'enriched' in sick populations where its not normally so prevalent (US HIV).
Similarly, XMRV was not found in 589 prostate cancer biopsies in Germany. None. Zero. In 589 biopsies, as opposed to the 233 in the XMRV+ paper I wrote about earlier.
It could be that XMRV is a US…
sa smith | November 19, 2009I hate how the 'new' Technorati doesnt let you see everyone whos linked to you. Sometimes, smaller blogs with less traffic write a neat post and link to me, but I dont 'see' the post unless I happen to catch one of their readers clicking to me on SiteMeter.
*FROWNY FACE AT TECHNORATI*
I just happened to catch an interesting post at this blag, Shiningthelights Blog. Dude might be nuts, I dunno. But I do like a Q they brought up (a month ago, *FROWNY FACE AT TECHNORATI*):
Is a mouse leukemia virus contaminating vaccine reagents the cause of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?
Now, this Q might be…
sa smith | October 23, 2009Okaaaaaay...
*squint*
Let me preface this post by stating that I am not an MD. I dont care, particularly, about whether CFS is a 'real' disease or psychosomatic or a catch-all category for people MDs dont know how to treat. Sorry. So if you want to bitch about CFS, pro or con, dont do it in this post.
What I care about is retroviruses.
The behavior of this retrovirus in humans does not make sense as a causative agent for CF or prostate cancer.
It does not make sense.
Thus I think its an effect, not a cause.
Let me give you an example-- Human Herpes Virus 8.
The seroprevalence of HHV8 in…
sa smith | October 20, 2009One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesnt belong. Can you tell which thing is not like the others, by the time I finish my blag post?
#1-- Chronic Fatigue Sufferers Find Vindication in a Virus
News that chronic fatigue syndrome may be linked to a virus has been met with excitement by many sufferers whose symptoms and sanity have been doubted over the years.
#2-- Is a Virus the Cause of Fatigue Syndrome?
The new report has intrigued scientists, been seen as vindication by some patients and inspired hope for a treatment.
"I just feel like the whole future…
sa smith | October 16, 2009XMRV is so hot right now.
Read the paper on XMRV and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome last weekend:
Detection of an Infectious Retrovirus, XMRV, in Blood Cells of Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
My conclusions from the paper: XMRV is capable of infecting humans and producing viable progeny.
How this fact relates to CFS, Im still not sure.
Let me go through exactly what these researchers did.
1-- Nested PCR looking for XMRV genomes.
Nested PCR is kinda 'better' than regular PCR, especially when we are talking about retroviruses. How do you know the signal you are seeing is because of XMRV,…
sa smith | October 12, 2009Retroviruses like to cause cancer. Its kinda their shtick.
Sometimes the viruses themselves code for oncogenes.
Sometimes the retroviral promoters accidentally upregulate an innate oncogene (the cell doesnt know its supposed to stop replicating).
And sometimes a retrovirus accidentally plops down in the middle of an important regulatory gene, and thats how you get uncontrolled replication.
MLV, murine leukemia virus, is a retrovirus that causes... leukemia... in mice.
It has also been implicated in prostate cancer in humans. This is kinda weird (target is immune cells in mice, but prostate…
edyong | October 8, 2009Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a disease that afflicts people with extreme and debilitating tiredness that lasts for many years and isn't relieved by rest. Some estimates suggest that it affects up to 1% of the world's population. We don't know what causes it. Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world and kills around 221,000 people every year. Its causes too are largely unknown. What do these two diseases have in common? They have both been recently linked to a virus called XMRV (or xenotropic MulV-related virus in full).
This doesn't mean that you can 'catch' either…