No Evidence for XMRV Nucleic Acids, Infectious Virus or Anti-XMRV Antibodies in Canadian Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Imke Steffen1,2, D. Lorne Tyrrell3, Eleanor Stein4, Leilani Montalvo1, Tzong-Hae Lee1, Yanchen Zhou1,2, Kai Lu1, William M. Switzer5, Shaohua Tang5, Hongwei Jia5, Darren Hockman3, Deanna M. Santer3, Michael Logan3, Amir Landi3, John Law3, Michael Houghton3*, Graham Simmons1,2
1 Blood Systems Research Institute, San Francisco, California, United States of America, 2 Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America, 3 Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 4 Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 5 Laboratory Branch, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
Received: October 12, 2011; Accepted: October 26, 2011; Published: November 17, 2011
The gammaretroviruses xenotropic murine leukemia virus (MLV)-related virus (XMRV) and MLV have been reported to be more prevalent in plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) patients than in healthy controls. Here, we report the complex analysis of whole blood and plasma samples from 58 CFS patients and 57 controls from Canada for the presence of XMRV/MLV nucleic acids, infectious virus, and XMRV/MLV-specific antibodies. Multiple techniques were employed, including nested and qRT-PCR, cell culture, and immunoblotting. We found no evidence of XMRV or MLV in humans and conclude that CFS is not associated with these gammaretroviruses.
