CFIDS Report on the 1st XMRV Conference!

[Dr. Yes]

Btw, here is Dr. Hanson's email response clarifying the issue about her nomenclature in the abstract:

I referred to the virus as XMRV in the abstract because I didn't feel I should rename it on the basis of finding gag sequences more similar to polytropic viruses than xenotropic viruses. Remember that XMRV means xenotropic murine leukemia virus-RELATED virus. All of the MLV-related viruses found in humans fit this definition--they are related to xenotropic ML viruses, even if they are even closer to polytropic viruses. The difference is semantic at this point. No one yet has a complete sequence of any of the variant viruses that were detected by Lo et al in their publication and by other groups. We don’t yet know actually how different these will be from the full-length XMRV sequences presently available in the database—however, in general all the MLV-related gag sequences found in humans so far are about 95% (or more) identical to the Urisman et al and Lombardi et al gag sequences.

Her position is very much in keeping with the WPI's, with John Coffin's at the workshop Q&A, and is similar that of Alter and Lo's, as stated at their press conference.

Many thanks to Dr. Hanson for her kind and swift reply, and to Xmrv Positive (http://www.facebook.com/people/Xmrv-Positive/100001609661620) for contacting her.

 

[Cort]

Nice - it actually turns out that everybody is right and time will tell what category that sequence finally fits in. I think it just illustrates how much more we need to know about these viruses.

 

[eric_s]

Its certainly something to get sorted out. Do you know which scientists?

I was talking about the people that have done the Hanson/Bell study.