Showing posts with label XMRV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label XMRV. Show all posts

New study finds chronic fatigue syndrome not linked to XMRV and pMLV viruses

The causes of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have long eluded scientists. In 2009, a paper in the journal Science linked the syndrome—sometimes called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)—to infection with a mouse retrovirus called XMRV (xenotropic murine leukemia virus (MLV)-related virus). Given that affected patients often have symptoms consistent with a chronic infection, this viral connection seemed plausible, and the findings were celebrated as a major achievement for a complex disease that afflicts nearly 1 million in the U.S. Another study in early 2010 published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences detected murine retrovirus-like sequences (designated pMLV: polytropic MLV) in CFS/ME patients, which provided further support for a viral theory.

Read more at: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-linked-xmrv.html#jCp

XMRV accelerates cellular proliferation, transformational activity, and invasiveness of prostate cancer cells by downregulating p27(Kip1).

It's not over yet - despite the rageing polemic concerning the XMRV virus , this study shows that it accelerates the growth of prostate cancer cells.
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Antibody responses against xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus envelope in a murine model.

After infection with the XMRV virus in mice, antibodies to the virus are raised, but disappear rapidly - perhaps explaining the controversy relating to the role of the virus in chronic fatigue and prostate cancer.

Chronic fatigue genes and risk factors
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Retrovirology | Detection of MLV-like gag sequences in blood samples from a New York state CFS cohort

The polemic rages about the XMRV virus and chronic fatigue: This study found evidence for Murine leukemia virus -like gag sequences in chronic fatigue patients and concludes that humans can be infected by such viruses.
Fatigue is often a symptom of viral infection in general - (CFS was originally called post-viral fatigue  syndrome). Perhaps it is multifactorial. What do viruses do that makes you tired  ?

Chronic fatigue risk factors 

Antibody Responses against Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus-Related Virus Envelope in a Murine Model.

In XMRV envelope vaccinated mice XMRV antibodies peak transiently and then rapidly disappear. This perhaps explains the differing prevalences reported for XMRV in prostate cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome studies. The low level of immunogenicity could be a characteristic of XMRV infection in humans. Lack of antibodies does not therefore necessarily preclude the presence of an earlier infection.
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XMRV viral DNA is integrated in chromosomal DNA of prostate tumors.

The XMRV retrovirus has been implicated in both chronic fatigue syndrome and prostate cancer - a hotly contested area.  Here it was found that viral DNA is integrated into chromosomal DNA in prostate tumours.
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The human genome is composed of viral DNA

Evidence from over 2 million viral/human alignments, shows that the human genome is composed of viral DNA.
This is not just retroviruses (XMRV and HIV-1) but common viruses such as the rhinovirus, Epstein-Barr, influenza, herpes, papillomavirus, coronavirus and many more. This supports the idea, proposed over a century ago, by J.B.S.Haldane and Felix D'Herelle that viruses are responsible for the origin of life, and also the idea that viral inserts are responsible for evolutionary jumps.(the insertion of several viral genes, if passed on through the germ line, effectively creates a new being)
As if that were not interesting enough, here is the important factor , exemplified by Alzheimer's disease  Bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The insertion points of the viruses implicated as risk factors in any particular disease correspond to the locations of the genes implicated in the disease.
The more important the gene in Alzheimer's disease (and others), the more viral proteins it matches (and those of other pathogens).
These viral matches appear to cover the whole human genome, and every human protein is homologous to one virus or another.
In the human genome, these matches are characterised by millions of gapped consecutive and contiguous segments which translate into short contiguous peptide stretches (5-12 amino acids long).The older the viral insertion, the more fragmented the DNA, the shorter the protein matches,but the greater the number of human/viral homologues. 
These human protein matches (vatches) are identical to those in the proteins expressed by the viruses implicated in the disease.
Because the viral protein is similar to human receptors, peptide ligands, enzymes,  etc it can act as a dummy ligand or a decoy receptor, and also interfere with the interactome of its human counterpart. This is shown quite clearly in the DISC1/viral interactome
Upon infection, antibodies to the virus also risk targeting their human counterparts, which will in effect be knocked down when the antibody binds. The protein equivalent of gene knockouts. If the peptides are highly immunogenic, then cells containing the virus, or its human analogue will be targeted for destruction. This is exemplified by the fact that immunisation with tau in mice provokes the neurofibrillary tangle pathology seen in Alzheimer's disease.Tau is homologous to Herpes simplex and other viral proteins.
All of the diseases on the website pages Alzheimer's disease, Bipolar disorder, Schizophrenia, Chonic fatigue, and more, have an autoimmune component, pathogens are implicated in all, and the genes and pathogens fit together, hand in glove, for all (Bipolar disorder, Alzheimer's and schizophrenia).
Viruses (known and unsuspected culrits) are also homologous to the autoantigens in multiple sclerosis and to the mutant proteins in Huntington's disease and cystic fibrosis (see website)
This suggests that many human diseases work via this common mechanism, and therefore that most are preventable, by vaccination or elimination of the pathogen, and perhaps curable by immunosuppressant therapy.

Examples of how this works are here
A pdf of a prepublication is available at NaturePrecedings.
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Proteins of the XMRV retrovirus implicated in chronic fatigue syndrome and prostate cancer are homologous to human proteins relevant to both diseases.

The XMRV retrovirus has been implicated in chronic fatigue syndrome and prostate cancer. A homology search comparing retroviral with human proteins revealed short contiguous amino acid strings (typically 5-8 aa) matching human proteins whose dysfunction might be expected to cause fatigue, including mitochondrial proteins related to oxidative phosphorylation, glutamate receptors and their synaptic scaffolds, muscular acetylcholine receptor scaffolds and structural proteins, components of the immune system, and phosphatidylinositol signalling inter alia. Viral proteins are also homologous to members of the oestrogen, peroxisome proliferator, and CREB activated receptor networks, all of which are implicated in prostate cancer, and to a protein, SRCAP, that controls the expression of the prostate-specific antigen. These short matches are often predicted to be antigenic, and antibodies to XMRV proteins may target their human homologues. This is supported by the presence of autoantibodies to muscarinic receptors , vimentin and LAMINB1 (all XMRV homologues) in chronic fatigue syndrome sufferers. Homologous XMRV proteins might also interfere with the protein interactomes of their human homologues. Viral mimicry of human proteins is extensive and often relevant to disease. For example Epstein-Barr viral proteins aligns with multiple sclerosis autoantigens, while HIV-1 proteins align with several components of the immune system. Mutant proteins in Huntington's disease and cystic fibrosis also align with proteins from common phages or viruses. This suggests a common theme of viral derived autoimmunity/network interference in many human disorders, which could radically change the shape of future therapy. Such viral mimicry likely relates to the idea that life evolved from viruses, leaving behind a legacy of viral derived human proteins whose homology to the current virome may be responsible for many human diseases and syndromes. Vaccination programmes or immunosuppression may be beneficial in many of these conditions.
Published in Natureprecedings
Pubmed: Chronic Fatigue   Prostate cancer 

This work by Chris Carter is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Treatment: A Treatment Guide (Quality Medical Home Health Library)
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and Other Invisible Illnesses: The Comprehensive Guide
Hope and Help for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia (Second Edition
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome For Dummies
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