XMRV and MLVs -- Clarifcation

[LaurelB]

XMRV and MLVs -- Looking for Clarifcation

Hi, all,

I've been (very slowly) working for several months now on a small video to help raise awareness. Now that it's finally done and ready to go, I just want to make sure I got some of my facts right. For some reason, I'm suddenly second guessing myself.

The video is short (under 5 minutes), so I'm not able to go into much detail and just want to give the basics. My target audience is the general public, most of whom will not want highly specific scientific detail.

I haven't been able to keep up with all the XMRV news lately, so I just want to make sure my understanding is clear. It seems that some argue XMRV and MLVs are not the same, while others agree that they are (in terms of being in the same family of gammaretroviruses).

Anyway, so I'm wondering if anyone can tell me if what I wrote in the below is inaccurate in any way:

"Recently, the FDA, NIH & Harvard University confirmed a link between ME/CFS and the same group of retroviruses as XMRV (known as MLVs).

The study found MLVs in 86.5% of ME/CFS patients & 6.8% of controls.

MLV stands for murine leukemia virus. MLVs are known to cause leukemia & central nervous system disease in mice.

XMRV is an MLV-related human retrovirus.

There are only two other known human retroviruses:
HIV (which causes AIDS) &
HTLV (which can cause cancer) "

I then go on to say XMRV has also been found in prostate cancer, more research is needed, etc.

Again, I'm not able to really add any more info than what is written due to time limit -- I just want to make sure my understanding is still accurate, and what I wrote is clear.

Also, I read somewhere that MLVs not only cause cancer in mice, but central nervous system disease. Is this correct?

I hope to post the video in the next couple of days.

Thank you!

 

[Stone]

I'm no expert by any means but what you have there sounds right to my ears for what it's worth. Thanks for your good work and the extraordinary effort and precious energy you must have to expend to get it done. You're amazing!

 

[omerbasket]

Just to clarify:
These are both viruses
These are both retroviruses
These are both gammaretroviruses
These are both MLV-related virsuses
However, they have some little difference between them. So little that the study authors concluded that their findings confirm the central argument in the WPI's study, and so little that Dr. Harvey Alter (the studies primer author together with Dr. Lo) told Mindy Kitei that he's not concerned about the difference between the viruses that he found and the virus found by the WPI, because we know that retroviruses mutate a lot, and also because when we say, for example, HCV (the virus that causes Hepatitis C) we actually refer to a group of viruses.

So yes, those two viruses are very very close related - but there is some small, perhaps not significant (but I don't know that), difference between them.

 

[Dr. Yes]

Hi Laurel B :Retro wink:,

omerbasket is right; the viral sequences found by Alter/Lo belong to MLV-related viruses extremely similar to the corresponding bits of XMRV described in prostate cancer and in the Lombardi study. These are all called MLV-related because they have not been found in mice, but are by all appearances descended from mouse viruses (specifically, MLV's). So the only changes I would recommend are:

"Recently, the FDA, NIH & Harvard University confirmed a link between ME/CFS and MLV-related viruses.

The study found MLV-related viral sequences in 86.5% of ME/CFS patients & 6.8% of controls."

Btw you're correct, MLV's do cause central nervous system disease in mice - in fact, they can cause "neuroimmune" disease.

 

[LaurelB]

Thanks Stone, Omerbasket and Dr. Yes. I really appreciate your comments and clarifications. You've been most helpful! I will make the suggested changes.

 

[omerbasket]

You're very welcome, Laurel! :Retro smile: