I just sent this to the Tribune reporter, and to the Washington Post, Bloomberg News, USA Today reports who have covered XMRV. Feel free to use it to contact other reporters.
To:
ttsouderos@tribune.com
From: Rivka
Subject: Correcting "XMRV is dead" headlines
Dear Ms. Tsouderos,
As you likely saw, and reported on, there were lots of headlines yesterday saying scientists have found XMRV is not related to CFS. Below are 4 quotes from key scientists and/or news articles (Wall St Journal) stating that XMRV's link to CFS is not dead.
Warmly,
Rivka
_________
== FOUR QUOTES ==
1. The reporters of those "XMRV is dead" articles did not do their research like Amy Marcus of the Wall St. Journal did. Here is her story from Dec 20, 2010, where you'll read that the detractors of XMRV are fast backpedaling.
<http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2010/12/20/xmrv-how-to-screen-the-blood-supply/>
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2010/12/20/xmrv-how-to-screen-the-blood-supply/*
2. Here is a quote from the bigwig NIH viral-hunter, Ian Lipkin:
"These papers emphasize the pitfalls of molecular assays and raise concerns. Nonetheless, it is premature to rule out XMRV or related viruses as factors in prostate cancer or CFS. Links have also been made based on serology and the presence of viral proteins as well as of viral sequences. Thus, we still need appropriately powered, rigorous blinded studies of well characterized patients and controls. One such study is underway under the auspices of the National Institutes Health.
Ian"
W. Ian Lipkin, MD
John Snow Professor of Epidemiology and Director
Center for Infection and Immunity
Mailman School of Public Health
Professor of Pathology and Neurology
College of Physicians & Surgeons
Columbia University
722 West 168th Street, 17th Floor
3. Here is a quote from the authors of the original Science paper of Oct 2009
http://www.facebook.com/notes/andrea-whittemore/dr-mikovits-responds/495512512528
Whittemore Peterson Institute Statement
"The Lombardi et al. and Lo et al. studies were done using four different methods of detection. They were not simply PCR experiments, as were the studies by McClure et al. and others who have recently reported their difficulties with contamination. Experienced researchers such as Mikovits, Lombardi, Lo and their collaborators understand the limitations of PCR technology, especially the possibility of sample contamination. As a result, we and Lo et al. conducted rigorous studies to prevent and rule out any possibility that the results reported were from contamination. In addition to the use of PCR methodology, the Lombardi team used two other scientific techniques to determine whether, in fact, we had found new retroviruses in human blood samples. We identified a human antibody response to a gamma retroviral infection and we demonstrated that live gamma retrovirus isolated from human blood could infect human cells in culture. These scientific findings cannot be explained by contamination with mouse cells, mouse DNA or XMRV-related virus-contaminated human tumor cells. No mouse cell lines and none of the human cell lines reported today by Hue et al. to contain XMRV were ever cultured in the WPI lab where our PCR experiments were performed. Humans cannot make antibodies to viruses related to murine leukemia viruses unless they have been exposed to virus proteins. Therefore, recent publications regarding PCR contamination do not change the conclusions of the Lombardi et al. and Lo et al. studies that concluded that patients with ME/CFS are infected with human gammaretroviruses. We have never claimed that CFS was caused by XMRV, only that CFS patients possess antibodies to XMRV related proteins and harbor infectious XMRV, which integrates into human chromosomes and thus is a human infection of as yet unknown pathogenic potential "The coauthors stand by the conclusions of Lombardi et al. Nothing that has been published to date refutes our data. -- Judy A. Mikovits"
4. Here is a quote from Europe's most noted CFS doctor, Prof. Kenny De Meirleir
“The contamination by mouse material was excluded in our study, that of Lo and that of Lombardi et al. We are not using PCR as a basis of the test but human prostate cancer cells that do not express RNase L so the virus from patient’s blood can grow in it. We also sequence the virus and I can assure you it is not mouse material. Governments and insurance companies are horrified by the idea that there is a new retrovirus out there that has infected 10 times more people than HIV up to date. My preliminary data show that the virus does not grow in culture anymore after Nexavir + GcMAF although the procedure was identical to the pretreatment culture. In the next months more will come from our side. A study with healthy blood donors, ME patients who got ill immediately after blood transfusion and ME patients who gave blood after they got ill will be published in the first half of 2011. What these 5 are doing to the patients is a crime against humanity. -- Kenny De Meirleir"