Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus

From MEpedia, a crowd-sourced encyclopedia of ME and CFS science and history

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."[1]

Chronic fatigue syndrome[edit | edit source]

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, and 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.[2] 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.[3][4]

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.[5]

The paper was fully retracted in December 2011 by the journal.[6][7]

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.[8]

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.[9][10]

Mainstream science considers XMRV to be a laboratory artefact and not a threat to human health or related to chronic fatigue syndrome.[citation needed][11]

In May of 2020, Mikovits released a preview for a documentary, Plandemic. It was removed from YouTube, Facebook, and other platforms, as it was flagged as health misinformation.[12]

Notable studies[edit | edit source]

Studies unable to detect XMRV in ME/CFS patients[edit | edit source]

Learn more[edit | edit source]

Abbie Smith ERV blog series of XMRV research[edit | edit source]

Nevada newsmakers report on XMRV[edit | edit source]

See also[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. "ScienceWatch.com - Clarivate Analytics". archive.sciencewatch.com. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  2. Mikovits, Judy A.; Silverman, Robert H.; Dean, Michael; Gold, Bert; Petrow-Sadowski, Cari; Bagni, Rachel K.; Ruscetti, Sandra K.; Peterson, Daniel L.; Hagen, Kathryn S. (October 23, 2009). "Detection of an Infectious Retrovirus, XMRV, in Blood Cells of Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". Science. 326 (5952): 585–589. doi:10.1126/science.1179052. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 19815723.
  3. ProHealth (August 23, 2010). "WPI-Licensed Test for XMRV & Variants Now Available". Prohealth. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  4. "XMRV testing in the UK". Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  5. Editorial Expression of Concern
  6. Oransky, Ivan (December 22, 2011). "Chronic fatigue syndrome-XMRV paper retracted by Science, completely this time". Retraction Watch. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  7. Alberts, Bruce (December 23, 2011). "Retraction". Science. 334 (6063): 1636–1636. doi:10.1126/science.334.6063.1636-a. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 22194552.
  8. Callaway, Ewen. "The scientist who put the nail in XMRV's coffin". Nature News. doi:10.1038/nature.2012.11444.
  9. "PLAGUE – The Update on XMRV". greenmedinfo.com. July 3, 2015. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  10. Oransky, Ivan (March 11, 2014). "Chronic fatigue syndrome researcher Mikovits, who championed link to XMRV, to publish book". Retraction Watch. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  11. Enserink, Martin (September 18, 2012). "Final Study Confirms: Virus Not Implicated in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". Science | AAAS. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
  12. Dean, Sam (May 9, 2020). "Facebook and YouTube race to squash viral video full of coronavirus lies". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  13. Groom, Harriet CT; Boucherit, Virginie C.; Makinson, Kerry; Randal, Edward; Baptista, Sarah; Hagan, Suzanne; Gow, John W.; Mattes, Frank M.; Breuer, Judith (February 15, 2010). "Absence of xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus in UK patients with chronic fatigue syndrome". Retrovirology. 7 (1): 10. doi:10.1186/1742-4690-7-10. ISSN 1742-4690. PMC 2839973. PMID 20156349.
  14. Erlwein, Otto; Kaye, Steve; McClure, Myra O.; Weber, Jonathan; Wills, Gillian; Collier, David; Wessely, Simon; Cleare, Anthony (January 6, 2010). Nixon, Douglas F. (ed.). "Failure to Detect the Novel Retrovirus XMRV in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". PLoS ONE. 5 (1): e8519. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008519. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 2795199. PMID 20066031.
  15. Meer, Jos W. M. van der; Galama, Jochem M. D.; Netea, Mihai G.; Bleijenberg, Gijs; Swanink, Caroline M.A.; Melchers, Willem J.G.; Verhaegh, Gerald W.; Lanke, Kjerstin H.; Jong, Arjan S. de (February 26, 2010). "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". BMJ. 340: c1018. doi:10.1136/bmj.c1018. ISSN 0959-8138. PMID 20185493.
  16. Hong, Ping; Li, Jinming; Li, Yongzhe (2010). "Failure to detect Xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus in Chinese patients with chronic fatigue syndrome". Virology Journal. 7 (1): 224. doi:10.1186/1743-422X-7-224. ISSN 1743-422X. PMC 2945957. PMID 20836869.
  17. Hohn, O., Strohschein, K., Brandt, A. U., Seeher, S., Klein, S., Kurth, R., … Bannert, N. (2010). No Evidence for XMRV in German CFS and MS Patients with Fatigue Despite the Ability of the Virus to Infect Human Blood Cells In Vitro. PLoS ONE, 5(12), e15632. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0015632
  18. Henrich, Timothy J.; Li, Jonathan Z.; Felsenstein, Donna; Kotton, Camille N.; Plenge, Robert M.; Pereyra, Florencia; Marty, Francisco M.; Lin, Nina H.; Grazioso, Paul (November 15, 2010). "Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus–Related Virus Prevalence in Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Chronic Immunomodulatory Conditions". The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 202 (10): 1478–1481. doi:10.1086/657168. ISSN 0022-1899. PMC 2957553. PMID 20936980.
  19. Furuta, Rika A.; Miyazawa, Takayuki; Sugiyama, Takeki; Kuratsune, Hirohiko; Ikeda, Yasuhiro; Sato, Eiji; Misawa, Naoko; Nakatomi, Yasuhito; Sakuma, Ryuta (March 17, 2011). "No association of xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus with prostate cancer or chronic fatigue syndrome in Japan". Retrovirology. 8 (1): 20. doi:10.1186/1742-4690-8-20. ISSN 1742-4690. PMC 3065418. PMID 21414229.
  20. Shin, Clifford H.; Bateman, Lucinda; Schlaberg, Robert; Bunker, Ashley M.; Leonard, Christopher J.; Hughen, Ronald W.; Light, Alan R.; Light, Kathleen C; Singh, Ila R. (July 2011). "Absence of XMRV retrovirus and other murine leukemia virus-related viruses in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome". Journal of Virology. 85 (14): 7195–202. doi:10.1128/JVI.00693-11.
  21. Oakes, Brendan; Qiu, Xiaoxing; Levine, Susan; Hackett, John; Huber, Brigitte T. (2011). "Failure to Detect XMRV-Specific Antibodies in the Plasma of CFS Patients Using Highly Sensitive Chemiluminescence Immunoassays". Advances in Virology: 1–5. doi:10.1155/2011/854540. ISSN 1687-8639. PMC 3265317. PMID 22312356.
  22. Steffen, Imke; Tyrrell, D. Lorne; Stein, Eleanor; Montalvo, Leilani; Lee, Tzong-Hae; Zhou, Yanchen; Lu, Kai; Switzer, William M.; Tang, Shaohua; Jia, Hongwei; Hockman, Darren; Santer, Deanna M.; Logan, Michael; Landi, Amir; Law, John; Houghton, Michael; Simmons, Graham (November 17, 2011). "No Evidence for XMRV Nucleic Acids, Infectious Virus or Anti-XMRV Antibodies in Canadian Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". PLoS ONE. 6 (11): e27870. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0027870. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3219700. PMID 22114717.
  23. Alter, Harvey J.; Mikovits, Judy A.; Switzer, William M.; Ruscetti, Francis W.; Lo, Shyh-Ching; Klimas, Nancy; Komaroff, Anthony L.; Montoya, Jose G.; Bateman, Lucinda; Levine, Susan; Peterson, Daniel; Levin, Bruce; Hanson, Maureen R.; Genfi, Afia; Bhat, Meera; Zheng, HaoQiang; Wang, Richard; Li, Bingjie; Hung, Guo-Chiuan; Lee, Li Ling; Sameroff, Stephen; Heneine, Walid; Coffin, John; Hornig, Mady; Lipkin, W. Ian (2012), "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", mBio, 3 (5): e00266–12, doi:10.1128/mBio.00266-12
  24. Rasa, Santa; Nora-Krukle, Zaiga; Chapenko, Svetlana; Krumina, Angelika; Roga, Silvija; Murovska, Modra (January 2014). "No evidence of XMRV provirus sequences in patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and individuals with unspecified encephalopathy". The New Microbiologica. 37 (1): 17–24. ISSN 1121-7138. PMID 24531167.
  25. Irlbeck, David M.; Vernon, Suzanne D.; McCleary, K. Kimberly; Bateman, Lucinda; Klimas, Nancy G.; Lapp, Charles W.; Peterson, Daniel L.; Brown, James R.; Remlinger, Katja S.; Wilfret, David A.; Gerondelis, Peter (2014). "No association found between the detection of either xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus or polytropic murine leukemia virus and chronic fatigue syndrome in a blinded, multi-site, prospective study by the establishment and use of the SolveCFS BioBank". BMC Research Notes. 7: 461. doi:10.1186/1756-0500-7-461.
  26. Panelli, Simona; Lorusso, Lorenzo; Balestrieri, Alessandro; Lupo, Giuseppe; Capelli, Enrica (2017), "XMRV and Public Health: The Retroviral Genome Is Not a Suitable Template for Diagnostic PCR, and Its Association with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Appears Unreliable", Frontiers in Public Health, 5 (108), doi:10.3389/fpubh.2017.00108