Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus

Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) is "a laboratory-derived mouse virus that was generated through recombination between two endogenous murine retroviruses during propagation of a prostate cancer xenograft in the mid-1990’s."

Chronic fatigue syndrome
An October 2009 paper by Vincent Lombardi, Francis Ruscetti, Jaydip Das Gupta, Max Pfost, Kathryn S. Hagen, Daniel Peterson, Sandra Ruscetti, Rachel K. Bagni, Cari Petrow-Sadowski, Bert Gold, Michael Dean, Robert Silverman Judy Mikovits entitled "Detection of an Infectious Retrovirus, XMRV, in Blood Cells of Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" claimed to have found a link between chronic fatigue syndrome and the presence of the retrovirus. The paper's primary authors were at that time based at the Whittemore Peterson Institute (WPI) in Reno, Nevada, United States. The WPI soon began offering a controversial commercial XMRV testing service.

Other labs around the world were unable to detect XMRV in their patient samples. In July 2011 the journal issued an editorial expression of concern about the paper.

The paper was fully retracted in December 2011 by the journal.

One of the key scientists involved in efforts to clarify the situation surrounding XMRV, and eventually to debunk the science, was Ian Lipkin of Columbia University in New York.

Doctor Mikovits has maintained her view that XMRV is a public health risk and documents those views in her book Plague with co-author Kent Heckenlively.

Mainstream science considers XMRV to be a laboratory artefact and not a threat to human health or related to chronic fatigue syndrome.

Notable studies

 * 2016, Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus-Related Virus (XMRV) and the Safety of the Blood Supply

Studies unable to detect XMRV

 * 2012, (USA) A Multicenter Blinded Analysis Indicates No Association between Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and either Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus-Related Virus or Polytropic Murine Leukemia Virus. (FULL TEXT)
 * 2011, (USA) Absence of XMRV retrovirus and other murine leukemia virus-related viruses in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.
 * 2011, (USA) Failure to Detect XMRV-Specific Antibodies in the Plasma of CFS Patients Using Highly Sensitive Chemiluminescence Immunoassays.
 * 2011, (Canada) No Evidence for XMRV Nucleic Acids, Infectious Virus or Anti-XMRV Antibodies in Canadian Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - (FULL TEXT)
 * 2011, (Japan) No association of xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus with prostate cancer or chronic fatigue syndrome in Japan- (FULL TEXT)
 * 2010, (UK) Absence of xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus in UK patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (FULL TEXT)
 * 2010, (Netherlands) Prevalence of xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome in the Netherlands: retrospective analysis of samples from an established cohort(FULL TEXT)
 * 2010, (China) Failure to detect Xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus in Chinese patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (FULL TEXT)

Learn more

 * Wikipedia - Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus
 * 2012, XMRV Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Update
 * 2011, XMRV and chronic fatigue syndrome: So long, and thanks for all the lulz, Part II by Abbie Smith
 * 2011, XMRV and chronic fatigue syndrome: So long, and thanks for all the lulz, Part I by Abbie Smith
 * 2009, XMRV explained on Nevada Newsmakers October 2009