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

Countrygirl

Senior Member
Messages
5,429
Location
UK
I will let someone else highlight the important points. I am suffering today so my brain is not up to it.

Thank you fds66. These abstracts contain some wonderful information, although I feel strongly about abusing animals in this way. Frankly, I would chose to remain ill rather than benefit from the suffering of other species. I know the scientists among us will probably be appalled by this, but it is a subject I feel strongly about.

At the risk of being a total hypocrite, I am really looking forward to Gerwyn, Kurt, Grorge and co. analysing the above. There seems to be some really exciting info there, but I'm not qualified to comment.

Gerwyn, Dr. Yes, George, Kurt.............are you all in bed???? Your community needs you!
 

coxy

Senior Member
Messages
174
This is really interesting to me & makes quite a bit of sense of everything. If the xmrv were in our reproductive organs males & females, i wonder if positive males even if symptomless could infect females through semen, but females can only infect others by pregnancy hence passing it on to their children which is what has happened in my case. My ex husband has always shown a lot of me/cfs symptoms, and actually has recently told me he suffered with a strange illness for 2 yrs when he was about 15yrs when he slept and was totally exhausted all the time. I wonder if he passed it on to me (& have always thought this actually). It actually took about 15yrs for me to become ill though after i could of been potentially infected by him. 2 of our children got ill at 8yrs old(4yrs apart). 2 are fine although do give me reason for concern.
The other thing that may be worth mentioning, is that i had a lot of fertility treatment clomid tabs and injections to get pregnant, not sure if xmrv virus could of been passed on that way(if i have xmrv that is, not tested yet).
 

starryeyes

Senior Member
Messages
1,558
Location
Bay Area, California
Thank you Countrygirl for doing such a great job explaining why we use emoticons. I've been around the web for a long time now and I've noticed that many people use emoticons on all forums if they have emoticons readily available. That goes for the most intellectual sites out there on other serious subjects such as Physics, Mathematics, Philosophy and Biological Sciences as well as Law, Medicine, and Art.

I've never seen an issue of someone not being taken seriously here or on any other forum. :Retro tongue:
 

Countrygirl

Senior Member
Messages
5,429
Location
UK
=teejkay;48967]Thank you Countrygirl for doing such a great job explaining why we use emoticons. I've been around the web for a long time now and I've noticed that message board users always post emoticons if the board has them readily available. That goes for the most intellectual sites out there on other serious subjects such as Physics, Math, Philosophy and Biological Sciences as well as Law, Medicine, and Art.

I've never seen an issue of someone not being taken seriously here or on any other forum. :Retro tongue:

Thanks tee. I am a newbie to message boards - PRF is my first and one and only - and to smilies. I am glad that smilie addiction isn't a sign of total stupidity, although my IQ must have dropped about 40 points since I've been ill. Managed a score of 147 before the lurgy hit. Now I have to think when someone asks me for my name! At a medical tribunal once, I couldn't tell the doctor where I lived :ashamed::ashamed: Had to ask my wheelchair pusher! Total humiliation. Still denied sickness benefit! :tear:
 

Abraxas

Senior Member
Messages
129
Great news from the retrovirologists on a forum about scientific matters for adults.

Welcome Jackofit. I'd also like to point out that while the discussion of scientific topics are a vital and valuable resource to the community here, that the forum allows people to discuss anything and everything related to ME/CFS. :D
 

parvofighter

Senior Member
Messages
440
Location
Canada
EXPLOSIVE Abstracts on the latest in XMRV! Thanks fds66!

Geez fds, thanks so much for posting these abstracts! A few examples of why I think they're EXPLOSIVE:

  1. From Sharma et al.: Organ and Cell Lineage Dissemination of XMRV in Rhesus Macaques during Acute and Chronic Infection

    "Both methods were concordant for the detection of XMRV in the various organs tested and showed a wide dissemination of replicating virus even when the plasma viral load was undetectable."
    In other words, XMRV is joining the behavior of ME/CFS opportunistic infections such as HHV-6 and Parvovirus B19: the virus may be undetectable in bloodwork, but present in organs. It would appear the UK CBT/GET lobby celebrations that "XMRV is not in the UK" may be not only premature, but scientifically silly. What I don't understand is that ANY scientist who has judiciously studied ME/CFS to any intelligent degree KNOWS all about the possibility of false bloodwork results, the possibility of tissue reservoirs, etc.
  2. From Dong & Silverman: Host Regulation of XMRV in Prostate Cancer

  • IFN treatment inhibited XMRV expression in both acutely-infectedand chronically-infected DU145 cells.
In other words, there is hope for treatment of acute and chronic XMRV, (at least in prostate Ca), specifically via beta-interferon. Maybe this explains why German cardiologists are having success treating various opportunistic cardiac infections with beta-interferon... maybe they're actually suppressing the underlying XMRV?

  • Our findings show that RNase L is required for a complete IFN antiviral response.
In other words, RNase L is significant to XMRV infection. And (recognizing this is a generalization), for those XMRV patients with RNase-L deficiencies, drugs such as Ampligen which address this antiviral pathway may show promise. Perhaps more importantly for the politically maligned ME/CFS patient community, this may mean that we have a powerful potential ally in the form of the Prostate Cancer community which might also join the fight with us for access to XMRV diagnostics, and XMRV and RNase-L clinical trials and therapeutics.

  • dihydrotestosterone (DHT) stimulated XMRV replication by 3-fold, whereas androgen inhibitors suppressed viral growth by 3-fold.
In other words, hormones dramatically affect the behavior (replication) of XMRV. What the biophysical Chronic Fatigue experts have been saying all along about the behavior of ME/CFS.

  • XMRV integration into prostate cells could cause androgen-stimulation of pro-inflammatory genes and proto-oncogenes leading to cancer.
In other words, XMRV as a prostate oncogen, with powerful influences of XMRV by and on hormones, is entirely feasible. Gentlemen, start your engines. For those patients suffering from prostate cancer, particularly those with the higher Prostate Cancer Gleason Grades, there may be a new avenue of hope opening up.
And this alone is cause for :D:D:D:D:D:D:victory:
4. From Qui et al.: XMRV: Examination of Viral Kinetics, Tissue Tropism, and Serological Markers of Infection

  • XMRV inoculation resulted in low transient plasma viremia, although proviral DNA persisted in circulating peripheral blood mononuclear cells for several weeks. Of interest, the earliest leukocyte targets were CD4+ T cells and NK cells followed by CD8+ enriched T and CD20+ enriched B cells.
Two things of note: again the low and transient viremia, potentially rendering PCR - even VERY sensitive PCR as per the last Kerr paper - unhelpful. And the second thing: note the NK cells being among the earliest targets - NK dysfunction being a classic marker for ME/CFS.
Jackofit - what Countrygirl said. I'm in my 11th year of this beast, have lost family, friends, career, etc. - as many of us on this forum have. In fact, you'll find that my experience is mild compared to those veritable soldiers among us who have lost 20, 30, and more years of their lives to ME/CFS. But I am reminded of that late career, where I regularly keynoted global medical directors of Fortune 500 companies. Dry presentation of science is so yesterday, and indeed part of my success in my earlier life was because I was able to blend humor and real-life anecdotes with complicated medical/business concepts. That makes things both palatable, and memorable. If ever there was a place to use humor, a forum for people affected by, and studying a devastating neuroimmune disease would be it! Connection is what keeps many of us going, and emoticons are a great way of quickly expressing what would be clumsy in words. Stick around here, and you'll find many bright people, brimming with humanity, humor, and yes - irreverence. I hear what you're saying about content, and if all we ever did was use smileys back and forth, things would get a little vacuous. But dig a little deeper, and you'll see many, many top-notch scientific posts and analysis that far outrival much of the drivel that is propagated in the media. And yes, we cheer each other on with :D:cool::Retro smile::Retro wink::eek:

If it's any consolation Jackofit, I was an emoticon-virgin before I came onto this forum. You might even try asking the administrators if it is possible to disable the emoticons. Either way, welcome to the forum, and we look forward to your contributions.;)
 

Sasha

Fine, thank you
Messages
17,863
Location
UK

Very interesting, Elisa, thanks for posting - I watched the videos from this conference but this press summary is much more concise and informative about the tissue reservoir issue.

I though the rather cryptic quote from Dr Hackett of Abbot Diagnositcs at the end was interesting: "Part of it is the ability to identify it [XMRV] to begin with," Hackett told MedPage Today. "You could argue we haven't been looking for it." I wonder if he meant that the techniques used in the latest studies, although generally appropriate for detecting retroviruses, aren't appropriate for detecting XMRV, given where it hangs out in the body and how it behaves. That's probably reading too much into his quote, though, given that it's out of context.
 

Adam

Senior Member
Messages
495
Location
Sheffield UK
@
Jackofit - what Countrygirl said. I'm in my 11th year of this beast, have lost family, friends, career, etc. - as many of us on this forum have. In fact, you'll find that my experience is mild compared to those veritable soldiers among us who have lost 20, 30, and more years of their lives to ME/CFS. But I am reminded of that late career, where I regularly keynoted global medical directors of Fortune 500 companies. Dry presentation of science is so yesterday, and indeed part of my success in my earlier life was because I was able to blend humor and real-life anecdotes with complicated medical/business concepts. That makes things both palatable, and memorable. If ever there was a place to use humor, a forum for people affected by, and studying a devastating neuroimmune disease would be it! Connection is what keeps many of us going, and emoticons are a great way of quickly expressing what would be clumsy in words. Stick around here, and you'll find many bright people, brimming with humanity, humor, and yes - irreverence. I hear what you're saying about content, and if all we ever did was use smileys back and forth, things would get a little vacuous. But dig a little deeper, and you'll see many, many top-notch scientific posts and analysis that far outrival much of the drivel that is propagated in the media. And yes, we cheer each other on with

If it's any consolation Jackofit, I was an emoticon-virgin before I came onto this forum. You might even try asking the administrators if it is possible to disable the emoticons. Either way, welcome to the forum, and we look forward to your contributions.

Could not have put it better. Thanks Parvo. Thanks to all those who have transcribed text, commented, contributed on this thread.Maybe we can begin to forget the negative UK studies and concentrate on the science.

I can't help but try and fit some of the evidence of the pathogenesis of XMRV which is now coming to light into my own illness expierience. Anecdotally, I imagine we wil) all do this over the coming weeks and months. In particular, wonder how and when we contracted the virus.

Maybe be another thread for members to speculate about the course of their illnes and how this might tie with the science. I don't know. I feel I have so much to say, but little of of makes much sense. I think I will juts go back to reading posts for now. I am overcome.
 

Countrygirl

Senior Member
Messages
5,429
Location
UK
Parvo.........thank you for your brilliant post. You highlighted the abstracts that I was particularly struck by, but am not qualified to pass an opinion. I've been anxiously waiting for one of you scientifically-minded folk to pick the bones out of what seemed to me to be very exciting extracts. :victory:

From one emoticon-near-virgin to another :Sign Good Job::thumbsup::hug:
 

garcia

Aristocrat Extraordinaire
Messages
976
Location
UK
This is a quote from the above:
Chronic infection, though, appeared largely limited to CD4+ T cells in lymphoid organs -- spleen, lymph nodes, and GI tract -- as well as in reproductive organs, including prostate, testes, ovaries, vagina, and cervix.
 

natasa778

Senior Member
Messages
1,774
All the more reasons to study stool samples to see if xmrv sheds nucleic acids in GI tract (as happens with HIV).

Am I too optimistic that if that is the case, such tests could even be used diagnostically?
 
G

Gerwyn

Guest
XMRV -just how difficult is it to detect

The recent reports by Sharma found that detecting XMRV in lymphoid and reproductive tissue was RELATIVELY straightforward.They were looking in the right place--This has been our argument all along.The interesting bit however is that the chance of producing an antibody result from whole blood samples from healthy volunteers is about 1 in 7oo. The last british study found XMRV in 4 in 100 approx of whole blood samples which had not had the virus titre amplified in the manner of the WPI.So the control blood sample used in the Groom study was treated in the same way as the blood samples reported in the Coffin presentation yet produced titres almost ten times higher Isnt that just a little strange!!!

The other thing that I find of note is that sharma found antibodies specific for env gp70 and p15e .I THINK that these were the sequences missing from the xmrv clone used in the ltest British study
 

determined

Senior Member
Messages
307
Location
USA: Deep South
enlarged lymph nodes?

One of my earliest symptoms in childhood was enlarged, but painless lymph nodes. I had one in my neck and many (they felt like frozen peas) in my groin area. Has anyone else had enlarged lymph nodes? Puzzling though, since I have four siblings and none of them have CFS.
 

Alexia

Senior Member
Messages
168
Location
Portugal
I had one in my neck and many (they felt like frozen peas) in my groin area. Has anyone else had enlarged lymph nodes?
Yes determined I've also had enlarged lymph nodes. They got much smaller after having the Perrin Technique treatments. Maybe here is a reason why this Technique has helped some people. I don't know if you have it in USA. But Dr. Perrin is an osteopath and developed a therapy that he claims can heal people with CFS/ME. http://www.theperrinclinic.com/about.asp
 
Messages
17
Thanks for the welcome from you all. I don't find the science boring, its become a scientific thriller reading about how this research is panning out and I have enjoyed reading the posts and learning so much here. That has made my mood so much better lately. So has knowing Reeves got demoted to the psyche ward, he's had unhelpful illness beliefs for about 20 years so he's going to need a lot of CBT he ho.

I know how grim this illness has been so I like to have a good laugh or just try wherever I can but wheres the smartass comments about the psyche lot, the brainfog gaffes, a bit of teasing each other all in good fun? We are all sick and brainfogged and so tired of not having a life but it doesn't mean we are incapable of joking around and having a laugh, some of the funniest things come from the most unlikely people or situations.

Keep up the great posts on the science I think you all have far more intelligence than you realise and I would be far more interested in your humorous take on things, that would mean a whole lot more than some manufactured kiddie icon. Don't be afraid to express your own humour, don't ever sell yourself short! I know everyone of you is capable of some pithy comment or similar. I mean well in saying this, and hope you all understand what I am getting at?
 

VillageLife

Senior Member
Messages
674
Location
United Kingdom
One of my earliest symptoms in childhood was enlarged, but painless lymph nodes. I had one in my neck and many (they felt like frozen peas) in my groin area. Has anyone else had enlarged lymph nodes? Puzzling though, since I have four siblings and none of them have CFS.

From a very young age about 8, I would get terrible pains in my right groin area I had this off and on for many years.At one time a large lump came up and was there for almost a year, then oneday it went... It was also VERY VERY painful when I urinated on this right side for years! not sure what that ever was and I have no idea if it was my lymph nodes.
 
R

Robin

Guest
I know how grim this illness has been so I like to have a good laugh or just try wherever I can but wheres the smartass comments about the psyche lot, the brainfog gaffes, a bit of teasing each other all in good fun? We are all sick and brainfogged and so tired of not having a life but it doesn't mean we are incapable of joking around and having a laugh, some of the funniest things come from the most unlikely people or situations.

Keep up the great posts on the science I think you all have far more intelligence than you realise and I would be far more interested in your humorous take on things, that would mean a whole lot more than some manufactured kiddie icon. Don't be afraid to express your own humour, don't ever sell yourself short! I know everyone of you is capable of some pithy comment or similar. I mean well in saying this, and hope you all understand what I am getting at?

Hi Jackofit. Welcome to the forum!

There is quite a volume of posts each day on the forum and I think if you do some reading you will find quite a bit of humor and joking. And the generous use of smilies. :D
 

Advocate

Senior Member
Messages
529
Location
U.S.A.
Chronic infection, though, appeared largely limited to CD4+ T cells in lymphoid organs -- spleen, lymph nodes, and GI tract -- as well as in reproductive organs, including prostate, testes, ovaries, vagina, and cervix.


I was puzzled when I saw the GI tract listed as a lymphoid organ, so I looked it up.


Aside from all of its other functions, the gastrointestinal tract is a lymphoid organ, and the lymphoid tissue within it is collectively referred to as the gut-associated lymphoid tissue or GALT. The number of lymphocytes in the GALT is roughly equivalent to those in the spleen, and, based on location, these cells are distributed in three basic populations:

Etc.