laboratories + contamination
... I thought I saw somewhere that it was Ila Singh's group that also tested the samples and found the majority positive, presumably by PCR. I wonder if Singh's group has done antibody testing on these samples?
That was where one set of samples went, and Singh has not revealed anything about her results, except by planning a much larger study. I was thinking about a different laboratory which has results in press.
Let's go back to that data supporting the reliability of the CDC assay for XMRV, and apply an argument which has surfaced before in these disputes.
First, let me hypothesize a suspicion for which I cannot present any source: the CDC labs have experienced a serious problem with contamination, e.g. by mouse DNA, in the last two or three years.
Second, let's say their rate of detection of XMRV in samples of prostate tissue is around 1%, as shown in a presentation earlier this year.
Third, let's assume they will leave no stone unturned to eliminate contamination if it produces positive results in samples from CFS patients.
Fourth, let's say they will accept positive results in samples from prostate cancer patients, where they expect to find XMRV.
Taken together these make a compelling conjecture that their entire basis for claims of detecting XMRV in infected human beings is due to contamination in a few samples.
This is the kind of argument I was not able to put together w.r.t. the results in the Science paper by Lombardi, et al. Every assumption led to a contradiction. In this case there is no contradiction, and not even a great deal of improbability or implausibility.
Anyone willing to bet against me? :innocent1: