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XRMV and cardiomyopathy ?

liverock

Senior Member
Messages
748
Location
UK
I have been trying to learn as much as I can about what is known about XMRV from the research already done in those who suffer from prostate cancer. I came across this in another forum which poses a few questions.


A bit of musing: The XMRV is capable of infecting prostate cells via the XPR1 receptor. This receptor has also been detected in the spleen, lymph node, thymus, leukocytes, bone marrow, heart, kidney, pancreas and skeletal muscle. However, besides the prostate, there haven't been a lot of studies regarding the effect of retroviruses and XPR1. However, one lab study has shown that a retrovirus can cause heart damage. See:

http://jvi.highwire.org/cgi/content/full/81/22/12307

Therefore, could the XMRV be responsible for the cardiomyopathy that Cheney believes is the cause many of the symptoms in CFS?
 

Summer

Senior Member
Messages
175
That is intriguing. I have a lot of chest pain, and at one time, I went to the ER and I had elevated enzymes that only come from the heart, so my heart muscle was breaking down.

Another thing to consider about the heart, is it is the organ with the most concentrated mitochondria, and unlike the other human retroviruses, XMRV infects mitochondra and, I believe muscle tissue. So, if the mitochondria in the heart are sick, the heart dysfunction is possibly explainable by this as well.

It keeps ringing in my ears that Dr. Judy said every symptom of CFIDS can be explained by XMRV infection.
 

hvs

Senior Member
Messages
292
I have been trying to learn as much as I can about what is known about XMRV from the research already done in those who suffer from prostate cancer. I came across this in another forum which poses a few questions.

Again, rank speculation, but Lerner in Detroit is convinced that the heart is "at the heart" of CFS, too. ;)
 

KC22

Senior Member
Messages
161
Location
Ohio
Heart issues

I have been wondering about the connection of the heart to XMRV. I have some heart issues, tachycardia and diastolic dysfunction. Every time Dr. Lerner runs an ekg on me, it is always abnormal.

He just had me do a stress test in May - normal and this Monday I am going to MI for an echo and holter. I will definitely be asking him his opinion on this XMRV discovery. I am not sure what his response will be as he was so sure it was the viruses EBV, HHV6 and CMV - also lyme, mycoplasma, etc.

The other question I have for him is will being on valcyte skew a test of XMRV. I have been on it for a long time. Hopefully, there will be time to ask these questions..:eek:
 

hvs

Senior Member
Messages
292
I will definitely be asking him his opinion on this XMRV discovery. I am not sure what his response will be as he was so sure it was the viruses EBV, HHV6 and CMV - also lyme, mycoplasma, etc.

If I remember correctly, Lerner understood those herpes-family virus to be the immediate problem (leading to heart issues), but like the rest of the field could only speculate on the ultimate problem (which appears to be xmrv).
 

KC22

Senior Member
Messages
161
Location
Ohio
He very much believes these infections affect the heart. I asked him about mycoplasma p. and he said "yes, they are all a factor in the heart." If he thinks that, I would think he believes a retrovirus could also be affecting the heart. I see him Mon and Tues. so hopefully I will know more about his beliefs in all of this.

My friend saw him Friday after the story broke, and she didn't ask him, nor did he say anything about it.
 

MEG

Senior Member
Messages
242
Location
Asheville, NC
Heart

Interresting, as I too have diastolic dysfunction, and tachycardia that is now treated with beta blockers. The tachycardia (130's) started in 2002 as one of the first symptoms the doctors were worried about when I presented with a horrid "flu". I recently had a nuclear stress test which was pretty normal for a 57 year old. Makes a lot of sense to me that our hearts could be involved if this is indeed XMRV.
Cardiomyopathy is quite scary...I wasn't aware Dr. Cheney felt so strongly about CFS causing it. Thanks for the info. My mother and 49 y/o sister died of cardiomathy. I remember Dartmouth feeling the cardiomathy was virus related. They did viral studies (heart tissue/biopsy studies) on my mom but that was quite awhile ago, 1980's. Wish they had done them on my sister, as she died just a year ago...she was treated at Emory in Atlanta. Her doctor didn't believe in CFS.

So much news...I am so intrugued with the XMRV discovery..I happen to believe WPI is really on to something...I just pray the NIH and CDC will respond quickly.
 

liverock

Senior Member
Messages
748
Location
UK
Dr Arnold Peckerman, in a NIH study,was responsible for showing that PWC's had reduced cardiac output which was responsible for a lot of their symptoms.

Lying down, control subjects had 7 litres /min cardiac output, whilst PWC's had 5 litres/min.

Standing up, controls had 5 litres/min, whilst PWC's had 3.5 litres/min, a 30% drop(this will vary with the severity of the illness).

Dr Sarah Myhill wrote a very succinct article on how this would affect PWC's bodily symptoms.

http://www.drmyhill.co.uk/article.cfm?id=381
 

hvs

Senior Member
Messages
292
--This is this forum at its best, informed and curious folks sharing information.--

(If only I thought the medical profession was fill with curiosity at the same rate. Again, thank goodness for the WPI, Klimas, etc.)
 

Chris

Senior Member
Messages
845
Location
Victoria, BC
heart to heart stuff

Hi, all; this is turning into a very helpful heart thread! A few comments:

Summer, I too went to the ER twice while this process was beginning nearly 3 years ago; was told that there was no troponin, so no heart attack, but there was raised myoglobin, an enzyme indicating muscle damage somewhere, including the heart, but not specific to the heart; this was repeated when I went again a few months later with extreme fatigue, chest pain, etc. Did you have raised myoglobin? No doctor has ever proposed a reason for the appearance of this, nor thought it worthy of further examination. So I would be very interested in your experience, which seems to resemble mine quite closely. Maybe we now have a solution!

And Liverock and Andrew, good reminders of some of the work done on CFS and hearts--and don't forget Cheney's "The Heart of the Matter," and more stuff on his recent DVD, both focusing on diastolic dysfunction.

Like everyone, I look forward to being tested for XMRV, and even more to hearing of some effective treatments!

Best wishes, Chris
 

Summer

Senior Member
Messages
175
Hi, all; this is turning into a very helpful heart thread! A few comments:

Summer, I too went to the ER twice while this process was beginning nearly 3 years ago; was told that there was no troponin, so no heart attack, but there was raised myoglobin, an enzyme indicating muscle damage somewhere, including the heart, but not specific to the heart; this was repeated when I went again a few months later with extreme fatigue, chest pain, etc. Did you have raised myoglobin? No doctor has ever proposed a reason for the appearance of this, nor thought it worthy of further examination. So I would be very interested in your experience, which seems to resemble mine quite closely. Maybe we now have a solution!



Best wishes, Chris

Chris, I did not have elevated myoglobin, but I did have elevated Troponin, and they prepped me for major by-pass surgery pending results of a heart cathe, and the cardiologist was actually a bit mad when I had arteries clean as a whistle. The cardiologist said I just had naturally high troponin and it didn't mean anything and told me to never come to the ER with chest pain again. Just another one of the pleasantries we go through. Anyway, my troponin level did go back to normal when I had global improvement of CFIDS and my chest pain stopped.
 

jewel

Senior Member
Messages
195
Intriguing...

I've wondered about this, despite the fact that all of this is quite speculative as yet. I have an incredibly strong family history for cardiomyopathy, but the type of cardiomyopathy seen in my family members does not follow the pattern of familial heart failure. Every person in the family who has been diagnosed with this has been given a dx of "idiopathic cardiomyopathy", ie., cause unknown. And I am talking grandparents, uncles, cousins, and at least one sibling. Many of these individuals died quite young (teens through fifties). I am lucky to not have this (knock wood that I don't develop it), despite symptoms consistent with cfs/me and a dx of fibromyaligia. (New to this site, incredibly impressed by all of you. If nothing else comes from these research findings for a while, I will at the least be thankful that it pulled me into noodling around these forums rather than just looking at the main news articles and summaries posted here.) Cheers, J.