Dr Komaroff's webinar 16 Sept - anyone see it?
- Thread starter Sasha
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urbantravels
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Ditto to that question, I'm very curious to know what he said.
George
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My take home? "it's a passages virus."
Really nice presentation by the way.
Really nice presentation by the way.
urbantravels
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Passages virus? What does that mean?
yes, please explain......do u mean passenger virus? or passages in that it opens up the door for other viruses to pass into us?
I did not take notes but Komaroff emphasized that he felt CFS was:
1) likely initiated by an infectious process,
2) that immune deficiency opened us up to a a number of infectious agents which likely accounted for many CFS symptoms (including encephalopathy) and
3) that XMRV or MLV's could explain the underlying immune deficiency.
There was a fourth point that I'm not sure I am remembering correctly so I'm leaving it out. I was not feeling well and I figured it would be posted soon.
I'm pretty sure that George meant passenger viruses (I would say that Komaroff was a bit less specific than that and say "infectious agents" including parvovirus, entrovirus, HHv-6, EBV, etc.).
Hope this helps
1) likely initiated by an infectious process,
2) that immune deficiency opened us up to a a number of infectious agents which likely accounted for many CFS symptoms (including encephalopathy) and
3) that XMRV or MLV's could explain the underlying immune deficiency.
There was a fourth point that I'm not sure I am remembering correctly so I'm leaving it out. I was not feeling well and I figured it would be posted soon.
I'm pretty sure that George meant passenger viruses (I would say that Komaroff was a bit less specific than that and say "infectious agents" including parvovirus, entrovirus, HHv-6, EBV, etc.).
Hope this helps
anciendaze
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Does anyone know if this video will be available soon?
It will be posted to the Association's YouTube channel as soon as possible. It usually takes a couple days to process the webinar recording, but I think it's been 24 to 72 hours for the other webinars.
Dr. Komaroff's presentation - video and slides - are now up on the CAA site: http://www.cfids.org/webinar/series2010-past.asp
Dr. Komaroff's current view
There's a lot more detail in the presentation about the role of viral infections in oxidative and nitrosative stress (viral infection and infectious inflammation) as well as physiologic responses to infection as well as infectious agents.
Key question - What role does a retrovirus play; primary or secondary infectious agent.
There's a lot more detail in the presentation about the role of viral infections in oxidative and nitrosative stress (viral infection and infectious inflammation) as well as physiologic responses to infection as well as infectious agents.
I was glad that he mentioned the Dubbo, Australia study, which I think was one of the best bits of science to happen in years. I asked Suzanne Vernon last Saturday whatever happened after the initial study, and she said they ran out of funding so had to discontinue it. What a shame, they could have learned so much by continued follow-up.
A perfect example of the pitfalls of attempting to keep discussions focused solely on the science while excluding discussion of the politics (not to be confused with assuming a conspiracy). Politics drives funding and funding defines the extent of the feasible science. They are inextricably intertwined.
Hope123
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This was a superb talk by Dr. Komaroff and I suggest that people not only watch it but ask your docs to watch it if they are opened to learning more about CFS. Komaroff talks about the objective abnormalities seen in CFS across neurologic/ immune/ etc. organ systems; although some of these tests are still research tests, all of what Komaroff says is grounded in research and he provides excellent references. It might bolster your docs' views that CFS is physiologically based and Komaroff's Harvard credentials help.
What I found interesting:
-- Komaroff says he initially dismissed mitochondrial causes of a fatigue as too "simplistic" but is more interested in this now. [I think it's great he's trying to be open-minded.] He thinks mitochondrial damage (which results in increased lactate - seen with poor aerobic metabolism - surrounding CFS brains) is due to damage to mitochondria by reactive oxygen species, NO, etc. Increased ROS/ NO/ etc. in turn is known to be increased by inflammatory cytokines from immune system reaction and from viral infections. Specifically, murine leukemia viruses are known to generate such reactions.
[For those interested, I also wonder about a direct effect on mitochondria from viruses. It is known that certain viral proteins disrupt mitochondria directly in other infectious diseases. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20813204]
-- CFS subjects are more likely to have certain markers (HLA markers) on their white blood cells than normals. This is not new info but stuff from the past that has not been well explored.
-- Despite everything, Komaroff's tone in the talk is still one of being open -- e.g. not sure if XMRV is passenger or cause. He might feel strongly about the latter but my guess is that all sorts of viruses have been brought up to be the cause in CFS before and he's being cautious.
What I found interesting:
-- Komaroff says he initially dismissed mitochondrial causes of a fatigue as too "simplistic" but is more interested in this now. [I think it's great he's trying to be open-minded.] He thinks mitochondrial damage (which results in increased lactate - seen with poor aerobic metabolism - surrounding CFS brains) is due to damage to mitochondria by reactive oxygen species, NO, etc. Increased ROS/ NO/ etc. in turn is known to be increased by inflammatory cytokines from immune system reaction and from viral infections. Specifically, murine leukemia viruses are known to generate such reactions.
[For those interested, I also wonder about a direct effect on mitochondria from viruses. It is known that certain viral proteins disrupt mitochondria directly in other infectious diseases. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20813204]
-- CFS subjects are more likely to have certain markers (HLA markers) on their white blood cells than normals. This is not new info but stuff from the past that has not been well explored.
-- Despite everything, Komaroff's tone in the talk is still one of being open -- e.g. not sure if XMRV is passenger or cause. He might feel strongly about the latter but my guess is that all sorts of viruses have been brought up to be the cause in CFS before and he's being cautious.