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HOT! Coffin, Sharma, and Goff@ Conference on Retroviral Infections...

parvofighter

Senior Member
Messages
440
Location
Canada
Reason for cheer!:Retro smile::D:D:Retro smile:

Just stumbled on this at the website for the 17th Conference on Retroviral Infections and Opportunistic Infections, in San Francisco all this week. HOT stuff on XMRV!:
http://www.ifarablog.org/2010/02/friday-press-conference-1-mouse-to-man.html

Lots of video archived, and I just wasn't up to wading thru most of it. BUT I can't sleep from achiness tonight anyway, and my heart is behaving itself tonite, so I DID get some goodies. There were 3 videos - one a press conference on XMRV with Dr Stephen Goff, and the others video interviews with Dr John Coffin, then Dr Goff again, parts of which that just rocked! To navigate thru the videos, start with the hotlink above. Watch the video, then click the "More" button. Then just keep clicking the > button on the bottom left side of the video image to move thru the other videos.

Bottom line, we've got some very smart retrovirologists all hot and bothered about XMRV. Remember what I said about XMRV's ugly sister (ME/CFS) that gets dragged along to the ball? Well, it's happening, and if anything, the discordant findings on XMRV seem to be spurring these retrovirology top-guns on to search harder - NOT to give up!
:thumbsup:
Excerpts from John Coffins interview.
Interviewer: Were here with John Coffin who is co-chair of the CROI (Conference on Retroviral Infections and Opportunistic Infections) can you give us a sense of, introduce us to some of the amazing things that are happening here at the conference. I know that you always try tend to downplay things because they are early.

Coffin: Of course basic science is always at the beginning and you dont know when you start to build on that towards clinical utility, whats going to work out and what will not

There was quite a bit here just in the sessions this morning on the new virus, the brand new virus called XMRV which is a retrovirus but its not like HIV, its not a lentivirus, its very much like viruses that I and Dr Goff who gave the presentation this morning on the subject, have been studying for years and years and years I mean really since the 70s. Weve been looking at these viruses for 35 years or more. These viruses were recently discovered to be in association with possible association with prostate cancer in humans and perhaps chronic fatigue syndrome. There was a very exciting paper on that. Other studies that have been published recently are not necessarily concordant with those findings. There is no question I think that the virus is real and that the virus is infecting some numbers of people. And its VERY (Coffin's emphasis) important to figure out where it is going as far as all of its disease associations are concerned its very early days if you think back to 1983 and what it was like with HIV, how uncertain things are, how long it really takes to grind the sausage (!:Retro smile:) and come to a consensus to understand whats really going onWere still in a pre-consensus stage with this virus, and although its annoying and confusing, its really exciting. (WE WANT EXCITED RETROVIROLOGISTS!)

. A couple of talks today discussed animal models (and XMRV) (Macaque monkeys) theyve been able to follow this virus in animal models. Takes a long time until you have disease (mutopathogenic model) In mice these (murine leukemia) viruses cause cancer, immunodeficiencies, neurological disease there is good reason at least to think that these viruses may be associated with disease in humans, perhaps prostate cancer, perhaps Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

When asked by the interviewer: Was there anything else you took away from this conference, Coffin responded, Those (including the XMRV topic) are the main highlights.
From Stephen Goff's interview
Goff: We know very little about its mode of transmission. We dont have any reason yet to be excited about any pathology but its certainly something we want to pay attention to and make sure were not missing anything. (NOTE: Remember, this is early stages)

... And so we live as humans with a lot of viruses that are non-pathogenic or that are not detrimental to the population (My note: We know from the French study this week that the envelope has an immunosuppressive function - i.e. XRMV is NOT an innocent bystander) I think people want to know a lot of simple things. It would be great to know the origin if it was a mouseWed love to know the tissues in which it replicates, and we know a little about that now because weve studied the virus in culture....the most important maybe is the prevalence in the human population, which we dont know.

Interviewer: Are there any other colleagues working on this, or is there some sense of urgency, or just casually looking at it

Goff: The NCI is pretty serious about it, they dont want to miss anything. And they want to play a role in identifying the properties of this virus and its potential risks. So theyre pretty serious about it. The range of anxiety is from very mild to the worst scenarios: Gosh, do we need to be worried about it getting into the blood bank. Do we need to be concerned if its really causing a certain subset of prostate ca. And the latest is the potential link reported last year of an association with CFS which would be very exciting because thats a disease that has struggled to find a viral cause.

Interviewer: So that might be the cause?

Goff: Could be

Interviewer:. We talked about not being alarmist.
From Press Conference with Dr Goff (the first video):
"What you all know at this point is that XMRV was recovered from a series of prostate cancer samples from patients a few years ago and immediately it was apparent from the sequence of that recovered virus was that it was exceedingly similar to the xenotropic virus in mice so I talked a bit about that history that goes back actually to the 70s. The appearance of this virus in human samples was exciting. (AGAIN, WE WANT HOT AND BOTHERED RETROVIROLOGISTS!) This virus causes diseases in mice that would be of concern if similar things were happening in people. The XMRV virus has at this point a very controversial history because as John Coffin said, this is early days. I would say in the prostate cancer area there is a lot better consensus of the recovery of the virus repeatedly in many labs. Incidence of the recovery is very low. The range is pretty high, from 0 to 20%. But maybe theres a fairly common recovery of it in a few percent of samples. So it (XMRV) is definitely out there. I talked about the behavior of the virus in culture which in our hands is quite vigorous. Its a very easy to grow virus in the right cell types. Several of the talks today talked about some of the behavior of the virus, for example its androgen responsive, or GRE responsive. Hormone responsive the receptor that it uses. Both of which bear on cell types in which it can be found. The most recent exciting work of course is the discovery in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and that too is very controversial. Some people are finding it, some not. I think that will have to be worked out in the coming months and years. (GOOD - THEY'RE NOT GIVING UP)!The questions which will have to be addressed are indeed the prevalence of the virus. How is it transmitted. Where does it come from etc. From a single transmission from the mouse or is it being repeatedly transmitted in separate incidents we dont know these things. But for sure its a virus that we need to know more about. (!!!!:D:D:D) We need to have people, as we brought up this morning, sharing samples, sharing assays, trying to come to a consensus about all these issues and I think it will come."
Presentations included:

  • XMRV: Examination of Viral Kinetics, Tissue Tropism and Serological Markers of Infection. John Hackett Jr, Abbott Diagnostics, Abbott Park, IL US
  • Mouse to Man? XMRV and Human Disease. Stephen Goff, Columbia Univ Coll of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, NY, US
  • Virus-Host Interaction: HIV and XMRV Organ and Cell Lineage Dissemination of XMRV in Rhesus Macaques during Acute and Chronic Infection. Prachi Sharma, Yerkes Natl Primate Res Ctr, Emory Univ, Atlanta, GA, US
Not sure how much else there is. Maybe an opportunity for transcribers to start your engines? Lots to discuss, and it looks as though there may be more this Saturday:
And finally: Click back to this website http://www.ifarablog.org/p/treatment-update-2010.html where you will be able to watch IFARA's program, "Treatment Update 2010", from the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI). (NOTE: Not sure if it will address XMRV at all)

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

3-5pm Eastern Time
2-4pm Central Time
1-3pm Mountain Time
noon-2pm Pacific Time
11am-1pm Alaska Time
10am - Noon Hawaii Time
Cheered up now?

Go get'em! :Retro smile::Retro smile::Retro smile::Retro smile::Retro smile::Retro smile::Retro smile:
 

julius

Watchoo lookin' at?
Messages
785
Location
Canada
Parvo!!! Thank you so much!!

I have only gotten through a couple minutes of it so far but this is amazing!!

I hope you feel better soon.
 
K

Katie

Guest
I want to hug you Parvofighter. Seriously. I've just booked a plane ticket, I'm coming to hug you. :D

This is fantastic stuff, especially the easy to digest way you've presented if PF, and it's made me feel like XMRV is being taken seriously even if CFS/ME is the hideously ugly sister tagging along for the ride! Animal modelling is always a positive step forward and the high level of interest in a new retrovirus seems very promising. I think I'm actually looking forward more to pure XMRV research than CFS research as I think there's more groundwork to be done before a connection can be made (if there is one to be made at all)

I'll be continuing to watch this space. :Retro wink:
 

julius

Watchoo lookin' at?
Messages
785
Location
Canada
When you watch the interview with Dr.Coffin, look at his eyes when he starts talking about XMRV.

First he talks about HIV for a while, and his expression is calm, not too excited. But then as soon as he starts talking about XMRV he gets this look on his face, like he's a kid on Christmas morning. It's mostly in his eyes, but he just looks so excited about it.

He's such an awesome guy.
 

dsdmom

Senior Member
Messages
397
Thanks Parvo, great info! I was up last night with achiness too but was not nearly as (ok MAJOR brain fog - what's the word for go get 'um-ness????) as you. Thanks for sharing.
 

Dr. Yes

Shame on You
Messages
868
I was really supposed to rest my brain (what's left of it) for the next few weeks...Gee parvo, thanks a LOT!

Presentations included:

  • XMRV: Examination of Viral Kinetics, Tissue Tropism and Serological Markers of Infection. John Hackett Jr, Abbott Diagnostics, Abbott Park, IL US
That's one I'm very interested in; finding out what tissues XMRV prefers is very important (incl. to pathology and to finding it in ME/CFS patients!). Anyone up for some transcribing? :innocent1:

and perhaps chronic fatigue syndrome. There was a very exciting paper on that. Other studies that have been published recently are not necessarily concordant with those findings. There is no question I think that the virus is real and that the virus is infecting some numbers of people. And it’s VERY (Coffin's emphasis) important to figure out where it is going as far as all of its disease associations are concerned it’s very early days… if you think back to 1983 and what it was like with HIV, how uncertain things are, how long it really takes to grind the sausage (!:Retro smile:) and come to a consensus to understand what’s really going on…We’re still in a pre-consensus stage with this virus, and although it’s annoying and confusing, it’s really exciting.
Exactly the sort of 'expert's assessment' that the press has largely ignored. This might be a good quote to send to media whose reports unscientifically overstate the implications of the recent UK studies.

  • Virus-Host Interaction: HIV and XMRV Organ and Cell Lineage Dissemination of XMRV in Rhesus Macaques during Acute and Chronic Infection. Prachi Sharma, Yerkes Natl Primate Res Ctr, Emory Univ, Atlanta, GA, US

:(:( Oh those poor monkeys! :(:(
 

Kati

Patient in training
Messages
5,497
Oh Parvo, this is an awesome dig!!! Thank you so much will check it out- very curious about John Coffin's eyes!!!!!! Let them retrovirologists be excited about XMRV.


:victory::Sign Good one::balloons::balloons::balloons::balloons::Sign Good one::victory:
 

FernRhizome

Senior Member
Messages
412
Fantastic!!!!! Thanks Parvo! Excellent sleuthing! This is totally exciting....I get more excited when the researchers are so excited they want to talk to each other than I do when they want to talk to us...! I am going to forward the site to a couple of my doctors.....very very cool!!!!! Thanks so much for posting...~Fern
 
K

_Kim_

Guest
Virus-Host Interaction: HIV and XMRV Organ and Cell Lineage Dissemination of XMRV in Rhesus Macaques during Acute and Chronic Infection.
Prachi Sharma, Yerkes Natl Primate Res Ctr, Emory Univ, Atlanta, GA, US

:(:( Oh those poor monkeys! :(:(

Yeah, the poor monkeys - they give them HIV and XMRV AND they have to be at the same University as Reeves!!
 

Sasha

Fine, thank you
Messages
17,863
Location
UK
Thanks, parvofighter! That has cheered us all up. Nothing like knowing that scientists are really excited about XMRV! This can only be good news for us. Well done for finding it and thanks for your summary. :Retro smile::Retro smile::Retro smile:
 

Advocate

Senior Member
Messages
529
Location
U.S.A.
Hey Parvo, you Canadians have had a busy week. First the Olympics (did you see the beautiful Canadian ice dancers last night?) and then the transcribing. If anyone is organizing a transcription team, I'd like to join--whether it's Canadian or international.
 

froufox

Senior Member
Messages
440
Hi Garcia, you need to click on the > just to the left of the timer so it can take you through all the subsequent videos. Here are the links to the interviews with Dr Stephen Goff and Dr John Coffin (they are about 6-7 videos after the press release with Dr Goff)

http://www.ifarablog.org/search/label/XMRV

http://www.ifarablog.org/search/label/XMRV

Thanks for posting Parvofighter! Very encouraging news!!

ETA garcia I 4got to say that you have to click on "more" which appears in the middle of the video window once the initial video of the press release has ended, and then after that you can click on the >, whereas it wont let you click on the > before then. Then you can go through all the other vidoes of interviews and discussions.
 

garcia

Aristocrat Extraordinaire
Messages
976
Location
UK
Thanks froufox, you are a star!

I managed to find out what was wrong (my dns server opendns was blocking me).

Also managed to find an alternative link:
http://ifara.blip.tv/
 

CBS

Senior Member
Messages
1,522
Inflamation and Cardiovascular Disease!

Hey Parvo,

Check this out from the same conference!

HIV, Inflammation, and Cardiovascular Disease:
http://www.ifarablog.org/2010/02/hiv-inflammation-and-cardiovascular.html

Dr. Priscilla Hsue, University of California, SF has an HIV Cardiology Clinic (http://cardiology.ucsf.edu/people/priscilla_hsue.html). I wonder if she would be open to entertaining similar processesdynamics in XMRV positive CFS patients. Either way, she clearly gets the whole inflammation leads to heart disease thing.