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Proteins of the XMRV retrovirus Christopher Carter

determined

Senior Member
Messages
307
Location
USA: Deep South
I can attest to chemotherapy helping with some CFS symptoms. While some other symptoms seemed to become more dominant (pain!), my weakness/fatigue symptoms were markedly decreased. I wasn't sure where my "boundaries" were. The effect was pretty quick - within a few days and lasted for a long while.

At this point, I would encourage someone who is desperately weak to try chemotherapy drugs before antiretrovirals. But I guess it would be tough to get either prescribed...
 

ixchelkali

Senior Member
Messages
1,107
Location
Long Beach, CA
Interesting theory. Without having looked up the author's prior work, I get the impression that this is a pet theory of his, and XMRV is just one more that he feels fits the paradigm. Still, it's interesting that the specific proteins are involved with glutamate, mitochondria, acetylcholine, etc that others have found disrupted in ME/CFS.

(i'm not sure how he thinks someone clears a retroviral infection lol) ...
Well, we don't really know that some people don't. It's possible that some people who are exposed to HIV mount an immune response and don't get chronically infected.

First, working out the viral load in a CFS patient is going to be very difficult. This virus doesn't exist much in the blood. The evidence is pointing to it being destroyed or inactivated in the blood stream, so it could be very hard to find indeed (although a test that could identify inactivated virus might help). That means it is probably hiding in tissues if the viral load concept has much meaning at all with this virus. The only reliable way to identify viral load would be to grind the patient up in a meat grinder and test the remains - not very useful. I suspect that we could get a close approximation (close enough for treatment purposes anyway) with a lymph node biopsy. My next choice would be to at least try to get an idea from viral load in the throat and lungs. Finally there is a spinal tap, but repeated spinal taps are likely to lead to death or paralysis in many patients, it isn't worth doing over and over during treatment. This is very probably a virus in which we can't measure viral load to objectively determine progress, if we wait for the science to catch up with this problem it could be beyond the lifetime of many of us.
Grinding the patient up in a meat grinder doesn't sound too different from how I feel most of the time anyway, lol.:Retro wink:
But seriously, we can't really say at this point how difficult it will be to measure viral load (although I agree it probably won't be a simple blood test). First we need to find out what tissue the little bug is hiding in (determine it's cell type tropism). First where, then how much. Who knows, maybe it will turn out to be a saliva or sputum test.


Just wondering, would the Antinuclear Antibody Test react to none of these proteins?
 

judderwocky

Senior Member
Messages
328
Interesting theory. Without having looked up the author's prior work, I get the impression that this is a pet theory of his, and XMRV is just one more that he feels fits the paradigm. Still, it's interesting that the specific proteins are involved with glutamate, mitochondria, acetylcholine, etc that others have found disrupted in ME/CFS.


Well, we don't really know that some people don't. It's possible that some people who are exposed to HIV mount an immune response and don't get chronically infected.


Grinding the patient up in a meat grinder doesn't sound too different from how I feel most of the time anyway, lol.:Retro wink:
But seriously, we can't really say at this point how difficult it will be to measure viral load (although I agree it probably won't be a simple blood test). First we need to find out what tissue the little bug is hiding in (determine it's cell type tropism). First where, then how much. Who knows, maybe it will turn out to be a saliva or sputum test.


Just wondering, would the Antinuclear Antibody Test react to none of these proteins?

Some people are immune to HIV, buts because they lack the receptor protein that allows the virus to enter their cells... i think some of them might actually express antibodies, but they weren't infected in the same way that someone with these receptors is. It never touches their DNA though and they never get sick... i could have been wrong... but it sounded like he was talking about a different situation.... I was refering to a place in the article where it appeared as though his statment implied that he believed some people had been infected, mounted a considerable immune response to a systemic infection (his theory is contigent on the initial force of the immune response) and then where clear of the virus later on. I'm not aware of any transient retroviral etiologies... its my understanding they are essentially permanent unless all infected tissues are destroyed... yes they have cured one person of HIV by completely destroying their bone marrow... thats because it eradicates all the tissue resevoires ... I don't think killing our immune systems off is the best tactic and i think immusupressive therapy is a very bad idea until we know exactly whether or not were successfully "not finding" it. maybe some people can drive the viral levels down signifigantly... but i dont see how it could be eliminated the way he was suggesting.... i could be wrong though its just a guess


also ... those human homologues would also trigger internal cellular changes and responses... so the effects of autoimmune homologue simulating antigen thingies or whatever wer're calling them now would not be just external to the cell... a lot of those receptor systems would trigger the kinds of oxidative state changes you see in autoimmune disorders... if i understand it correctly... the cells/tissues/membranes expressing those receptors would ultimately be attacked by the immune system... my understanding... of just this part of the theory... was that those cells would in turn be triggered by inflammatory pathways ... the homologue is not glutamate... but the glutamate receptor... but that this provides a mechansim by which the glutamate system would be affected. most of the things on the list seem to be related to receptors and gateway functions.... but i could have had it all backwards

also a lot of these proteins seem like they woudl aid the virus directly ... the estrogen like molecules seem like they would act like estrogen to some degree and maybe that triggers replciation to increase... we know a lot of hormones trigger the replication of retroviruses ... so it would make sense that a retrovirus in humans would evolve proteins (or maybe even copy ours) that look like ours to increase a paticualar state, or make a cell more virus friendly.
 

camas

Senior Member
Messages
702
Location
Oregon
Just wondering, would the Antinuclear Antibody Test react to none of these proteins?

I wonder if I've reacted to any of these proteins. My ANA tests have always been positive and show a speckled pattern. Subsequent testing has ruled out lupus or any other known autoimmune disease, but I've always felt there was an autoimmune component to this disease. I do my best to avoid triggers like allergic reactions and colds which send my immune system into overdrive and me to bed for months on end.
 

ukxmrv

Senior Member
Messages
4,413
Location
London
also... four of the receptors are olfactory receptors...

----------

I'm really glad that this was mentioned. Have had a problem since a young child with "smells" and that pre-dated the acute onset ME. The same sensitivity to smell is found in my extended family. We have other people with CFS, ME, prostate cancer etc.
 

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
The condition
has a very high prevalence, for example a figure of 30% of the general population was
recently reported in a study from the Netherlands

oohhh... i cant believe it said that in that article. They are refering to a study in which says that 30% of population has CFS.

(wondering if my brain is too screwed to make sense of things tonight.. when they said "the condition" in that quote above, they were refering to CFS werent they?
 
Messages
16
Location
Austin, TX
Protein Homology

I read the Wikipedia article on Molecular Homology to try to understand more about the technique the paper uses
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_mimicry

It sounds like it is fairly new but has found autoimmune mechanisms in HIV and MS. It sure sounds like it could be important for XMRV and CFS and prostate cancer. The oxidative phosphorylation and methylation stuff caught my eye too as that is related to some of the treatments Cheney and Yasko use.

Wish I understood more of it.
Beverly
 
Messages
20
Location
upstate New York

leela

Senior Member
Messages
3,290
Fascinating article. Thanks for posting. I'd be curious to hear Rich VanK's thoughts on it.
 
Messages
25
Chris Carter? Isn't that the guy that wrote the X-Files?

The truth is out there! :Retro smile:

Seriously though, this is amazing. I was just wondering the other day how NMDA antagonists could possibly abate my symptoms to such a huge degree if a virus was the root pathology. This paper from what I understand now posits that the virus causes (I assume it's not too simplistic to say) the polar opposite effects to that of that class of agents.

The acetylcholine implication is doubly fascinating as I've also experienced significant relief of symptoms from the anticholinergic diphenhydramine.

Interesting times to be certain. I'm now seriously considering the XMRV test, although I'm not sure yet how useful a result will actually be...