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The Swedish Study

Bob

Senior Member
Messages
16,455
Location
England (south coast)
This was published in the recent 'breakthrough' magazine from ME Research UK.
(Apologies if this has been posted already... I can't find it anywhere.)

The Swedish Study

For the XMRV discovery to stand the test of time, independent laboratories across the world must attempt to confirm the findings in their own local populations of ME/CFS patients - confirmation and replication are where the rubber meets the road in science.

The aim of the new investigation funded by ME Research UK and the Irish ME Trust is to establish whether XMRV nucleic acid can be found in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, plasma and serum of Swedish ME/CFS patients and controls.

Initially, the researchers will retrospectively test previously stored samples from three groups of patients (20 with Fukuda-defined ME/CFS, 20 with fibromyalgia and 20 with irritable bowell) and 20 controls. They will then prospectively test samples from 120 ME/CFS patients (defined on the Fukuda 1994 and the Canadian 2003 criteria, similar to patients in the original report in Science), who will also have functional assessments.

The investigators are well-placed to conduct this investigation. Prof. Blomberg is head of the Research Group of Clinical Virology at the University of Uppsala, and his research interests include human endogenous retroviruses, and the links between retroviral sequences and diseases such as MS and schizophrenia.

His collaborator Prof. Carl-Gerhard Gottfries is Professor Emeritus at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Molndal, and founder of the Gottfries Clinic AB in Molndal, which has conducted clinical research on patients.


Permission to post - Taken from the article "The Swedish Study", page 11 in the recent 'breakthrough' magazine published by ME Research UK, Issue 11, Spring 2010
 
Messages
76
Im not sure if the following issue has been mentioned before on the forum in relation to this study so apologies if this is old news.

I heard recently from a fellow sufferer that although work IS progressing on this project there has been some considerable delay. The team involved had to recover from an awful event in which the expert virologist employed to work on the study was killed in a car crash along with one of his sons. :eek: :sad:

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A second virologist was apparently recruited and is working on the study however its unlikely the results will be in keeping with the original time frame of spring/summer 2010.

An important point to stress though is that this study very much IS being done in collaboration with international experts with proven methods capable of detecting XMRV in blood. It should therefore be a valid and well received paper when it finally arrives.:thumbsup:

Its important i think to be understanding and respectful about the delay. They thankfully seem to realise the importance of getting the job done right as opposed to getting it done quick. ;)
 

Kati

Patient in training
Messages
5,497
Wow Cookie monster, didn't know that, this is quite tragic. And if they are to do it right, they might as well take their time.
 

usedtobeperkytina

Senior Member
Messages
1,479
Location
Clay, Alabama
so this is looking for it in blood, but didn't I read elsewhere it is very low in blood?

So are you saying they should be able to find it in blood since they are using the WPI methods?

Tina
 
Messages
76
usedtobeperkytina said:
So are you saying they should be able to find it in blood since they are using the WPI methods?

Tina

Hi Tina - that is very much the same interpretation that i gathered from the info i was passed *nods head*.
 

pollycbr125

Senior Member
Messages
353
Location
yorkshire
Im not sure if the following issue has been mentioned before on the forum in relation to this study so apologies if this is old news.

I heard recently from a fellow sufferer that although work IS progressing on this project there has been some considerable delay. The team involved had to recover from an awful event in which the expert virologist employed to work on the study was killed in a car crash along with one of his sons. :eek: :sad:

Thats terrible Cookie i really hope thats just a false rumour flying round though it would explain why we have heard very little about the progress of the study. very very sad :sad:
 
Messages
76
pollycbr125 said:
Thats terrible Cookie i really hope thats just a false rumour flying round though it would explain why we have heard very little about the progress of the study. very very sad :sad:

It enforces a greater sense of perspective hearing information like this doesnt it Polly. Sadly it comes from a reliable source. :sad:
 

Bob

Senior Member
Messages
16,455
Location
England (south coast)
Thats terrible Cookie i really hope thats just a false rumour flying round though it would explain why we have heard very little about the progress of the study. very very sad :sad:

Yes, to back up what Cookie has said, I have also heard from a totally reliable source, that one of the original members of the research team has sadly died, so the research was postponed.
This is why we've heard nothing from the Swedish study this year.
But the article from 'breakthrough' magazine that I posted above is from the most recent magazine, and so it's up-to-date news, and so it looks like the project is now going ahead.
I didn't know the details of the death, and it's very sad news.
 
Messages
59
Location
Bognor UK
Is this the study that you guys are referring to that is funded by ME Reasearch UK?


http://www.meresearch.org.uk/research/projects/xmrvsweden.html

Independent confirmation of the relationship between XMRV and ME/CFS in Sweden
Investigators

Prof. Jonas Blomberg and Prof. Carl-Gerhard Gottfries
Institutions

Section of Clinical Virology, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden; Institution for Neuroscience and Physiology at the Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg University, and Gottfries Clinic, Mlndal, Sweden
Funding
ME Research UKIrish ME Trust

ME Research UK and the Irish ME Trust are providing joint funding for this important study.
Background and aims

The discovery of a retroviral link to ME/CFS, reported in the major journal Science in October 2009 (Science 2009; 326: 530–1), has the potential to advance the diagnosis and treatment of the illness greatly (see our overview essay XMRV and ME/CFS — A stunning find). The major finding was that DNA from the XMRV virus could be detected in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of over two-thirds of ME/CFS patients’ samples from the blood bank in the Whittemore Peterson Institute tissue repository, but in less than 4% of healthy control samples. Also, the researchers reported that XMRV proteins were being expressed in blood cells from ME/CFS patients at very high levels compared with controls, and that patient-derived XMRV was infectious and transmissible.
Prof. Jonas Blomberg
Prof. Jonas Blomberg

These findings have caught the attention of the scientific world, but the next steps are equally important. Chief among these is for independent laboratories across the world to attempt the replication of the WPI findings among their own local populations of ME/CFS patients — it is sometimes said that replication studies are where the rubber meets the road in science! Since the WPI researchers used samples selected from several regions in the US where “outbreaks of CFS” had been documented (using patients diagnosed on CDC-1994 criteria and Canadian Clinical criteria 2003), blood samples from patients in other areas or countries might throw up very different results. Will ME/CFS samples from other regions of the US show similar high rates of positivity? And what about European samples?
Prof. Carl-Gerhard Gottfries
Prof. Carl-Gerhard Gottfries

This investigation is one attempt to answer this question — to establish whether XMRV nucleic acid can be found in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, plasma and serum of Swedish patients and controls. The researchers will retrospectively test previously stored samples from 3 groups of patients (20 Fukuda-defined ME/CFS, 20 fibromyalgia, 20 irritable bowel) and 20 controls. In addition, they will prospectively test samples from 120 ME/CFS patients (defined on the Fukuda 1994 and the Canadian 2003 criteria, similar to patients in the original 2009 report in Science), who will also have functional assessments.

The investigators are well-placed to conduct this confirmation study. Prof. Blomberg is head of the Research Group of Clinical Virology at the University of Uppsala. His research interests include human endogenous retroviruses, the links between endogenous retroviral sequences of the human genome and diseases such as multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia, and the development of real time polymerase chain reactions for common viral infections.

Prof. Carl-Gerhard Gottfries is Professor Emeritus at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Mlndal, and founder of the Gottfries Clinic AB which was formed in Vstra Gtaland in 1998 for patients with fibromyalgia and ME/CFS, and which is now situated in Mlndal. The unit has three doctors, nurses and medical secretaries, and it has also conducted basic clinical research, including trials of immunomodulatory therapy for fibromyalgia and CFS.

The results of this important study should be available in the Spring/Summer of 2010
 

fred

The game is afoot
Messages
400
It seems that is was the research assistant, Dr Xingwu Shao and his eldest son, who, very sadly died in a car accident.
 

JAS

Messages
70
Location
UK
Is this the same person who was involved in the Swedish study whose death was announced a couple of months ago?
 

ukxmrv

Senior Member
Messages
4,413
Location
London
Yes, the research assistant was needed for this study and sadly died. Therefore the study was delayed while they searched for a repacement.