Thanks Levi
It is in the literature if you look for it. I have not mentioned it because I did not want to freak the women here out. The relationship of human papillomilovirus and cervical cancer is well known. XMRV just turns it into a war machine. Now are you sure you want to be XMRV positive?
@Levi, I do appreciate your consideration not wanting to freak the women out. I guess for many of us ME/CFS'ers, any actionable news is good news. Even if it's XMRV, and an exhortation for men to be extra vigilant about malignant prostate cancer; and for women to be especially vigilant about increased potency of HPV with XMRV. (BTW, keep the references coming, particularly about XMRV turning HPV into a war machine) This is information however that responsible partners can and probably should share with each other, as soon as XMRV is further validated. I'm a big one for "knowledge is power", but do realize this can be indeed freaky. There is much new research coming out that
most women don't need PAP smears every year, and in fact some jurisdictions are moving to every 3 years from what I recall. With a Dx of XMRV however, I would imagine that more frequent PAPS and prostate exams might be prudent. I wanna hear this because this is
actionable bad news.
@fresh eyes, Wikipedia actually has a nice definition of tropism for you @
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropism
A tropism (from Greek, tropos, to turn) is a biological phenomenon, indicating growth or turning movement of a biological organism, usually a plant, in response to an environmental stimulus. In tropisms, this response is dependent on the direction of the stimulus (as opposed to nastic movements which are non-directional responses). Viruses and other pathogens also affect what is called "host tropism" or "cell tropism" in which case tropism refers to the way in which different viruses/pathogens have evolved to preferentially target specific host species, or specific cell types within those species. The word tropism comes from the Greek trope ("to turn" or "to change"). Tropisms are usually named for the stimulus involved (for example, a phototropism is a reaction to light) and may be either positive (towards the stimulus) or negative (away from the stimulus).
For example, parvovirus B19 has a tropism for "erythroid progenitor cells" (precursors to red blood cells). That's why it can be so dangerous for folks with sickle cell anemia.
Levi's point is also apt that, XMRV may have a wider cell tropism in culture than
in vivo. The two are not necessarily equal. In other words, in lab experiments XMRV may target more types of cells than it can actually target in a human.