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Novel Retrovirus Diagnostic Test Developed

shannah

Senior Member
Messages
1,429
Found this posted over at the Prohealth Board. Something about this article seems vaguely familiar yet it's dated yesterday. Is this new?


http://www.prohealth.com/me-cfs/blog/boardDetail.cfm?id=1390089

Science Magazine
SCIENCE DAILY NEWS

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

Correlation Between XMRV and Prostate
Cancer: Novel Retrovirus Diagnostic Test
Developed

An article published in the April issue of Urology is
a step in this direction as researchers from Emory
University report the successful development of an
experimental clinical test for XMRV.

"We cannot as a scientific community begin to
answer the basic questions of XMRV transmission,
frequency in the population, association with
disease, etc. until we can effectively test for
infection,"

according to lead investigator John A. Petros, MD,
Associate Professor of Urology, Emory University
School of Medicine and Veterans Administration
Hospital.

Dr. Petros and co-investigators adapted technology
developed in the HIV arena (neutralizing antibody
assay) and have developed a serum test that can
identify patients who have previously been infected
with the virus.

This assay has been rigorously confirmed by two
independent labs and two independent technologies
(PCR and FISH), thus confidence in the accuracy of
the test is high.

The mode of transmission
of the virus is unknown.

No method is available to screen either blood or
tissue donors for infection and no data are available
regarding whether the virus can be transmitted by
blood transfusion or tissue transplantation.

Dr. Petros comments:

"The public deserves to know if the next blood
transfusion or organ donation will give them XMRV
retrovirus, an infection which lasts for life, and could
possibly be related to prostate cancer. The failure to
develop accurate tests for this virus is a serious
public health oversight."

Although the assay used in the present report
involved the inhibition of infection of target cells by
viral-like particles with the XMRV envelope protein
expressed on their surface, results also suggest that
more standard serologic tests for antibodies against
specific viral antigens can be developed in the
future.

The authors conclude that:

"our report adds to the growing body of evidence
that XMRV is indeed a novel gamma-retrovirus
capable of infecting humans and that at least some
patients with prostate cancer have been infected
with XMRV.

We have reported serologic evidence of infection and
that the serology correlated with tissue-based
assays.

The concordance of 3 independent methods of
detecting infection added confidence to the assertion
that this recently discovered virus is real and
possibly related to human disease.

Robust clinical assays are needed to detect XMRV
infection, and much work remains to be done in
determining whether XMRV is indeed an oncogenic
virus or simply an associated epiphenomenon. "

Source: Adapted from materials provided by Elsevier
Health Sciences, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
 

usedtobeperkytina

Senior Member
Messages
1,479
Location
Clay, Alabama
Great news. This is what I have been waiting for. Verified with two other labs. Two different ways to check for it.

Is this the study that was announced that involved Emory that had many different labs with many different samples and whoever finds it most accurately wins? So the results of that study are already out?

Makes sense to use prostate cancer patients. You can test the blood assay accuracy against known XMRV+ people as far as their prostate tissue.

But this will help us too.

What's next? FDA approval? Labcorps, Quest, hello, is anyone out there. You have an opportunity. Here is the contact info at Emory:

Ashante Dobbs: 404-727-5692

Tina
 

Rivotril

Senior Member
Messages
154
Great news! don't know if there's another topic on this yet, because i found out that the news is from april 6th 2010:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100405102114.htm
for me it also sounded a bit familiar...but lately there's so much going on in the ME/CFS scene that sometimes it's hard to be familiar with all the news... but that's only a good thing, because most of them are positive developments
 

Hope123

Senior Member
Messages
1,266
Great news. This is what I have been waiting for. Verified with two other labs. Two different ways to check for it.

Is this the study that was announced that involved Emory that had many different labs with many different samples and whoever finds it most accurately wins? So the results of that study are already out?

Makes sense to use prostate cancer patients. You can test the blood assay accuracy against known XMRV+ people as far as their prostate tissue.

But this will help us too.

What's next? FDA approval? Labcorps, Quest, hello, is anyone out there. You have an opportunity. Here is the contact info at Emory:

Ashante Dobbs: 404-727-5692

Tina

I think this has been posted before.....back in April.....but it's always interesting to read another article. I think this might be related to the monkey studies at Emory (where they used FISH and tissue samples) and developed an antibody test with Abbot that found about 0.1% of a sample of blood donors (like 3/3000) were XMRV+.
 

usedtobeperkytina

Senior Member
Messages
1,479
Location
Clay, Alabama
well, if Emory has already declared they have an independently verified accurate test, why do we have that other assay study that is looking for the reliable test?

Is it me or is it them? (This reminds me of the Martin Short in the character Nathan Thurm. One of his sayings was, "Is it me or is it him?")

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOLBQxk72NY (this doesn't apply directly, but it is hilarious.)
Wouldn't it be interesting to see an interview with this guy on the hot seat like this?

Tina