XMRV Breakthrough News

This evening and around the world, news and scientific web sites are publishing details of a groundbreaking scientific research study that for the first time links a normally dormant retrovirus called XMRV to patients with a diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. This virus is also related to a subset of patients with Prostate Cancer. You can read an overview of XMRV in relation to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis here.

According to the study which was published in the respected Journal "Science", over 67% of those with CFS tested positive for the XMRV virus compared to only 3.7% of health controls.

In this initial study only 101 CFS patients had their blood tested compared to 218 healthy controls but the researchers have stated clearly that their findings are significant and indicate that this retro-virus plays a key role in the development of CFS or ME.

They go on to state that 3.7% of a healthy population are probably silent carriers of XMRV and that this virus lies dormant until activated possibly by another infection such as Herpes Virus HHV6, CMV or EBV for example.

XMRV has also been discovered in the tissue cells of a subset of prostate cancer patients and it was this finding linked to R-NaseL dysregulation that prompted the researchers to see if XMRV would be found elsewhere such as in patients with CFS or ME - patients who also demonstrate R-NaseL dysregulation.

XMRV can be transmitted by something as simple as brushing teeth in a shared area or sharing a can of lemonade and this may explain why families sometimes have more than one member with CFS.

This page will be updated with fresh links and information as and when they become available.

This is a big day for the ME population globally and quite probably the beginning of the end for those who have persistently claimed that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis are mental health disorders or functional psychosomatic syndromes curable with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Graded Exercise.

There are members of the profession of psychiatry who have for years denigrated and persecuted and indeed abused patients with their unproven illness beliefs.

Patients have had to live with members of the profession of psychiatry claiming that their dire states of ill health were caused by faulty illness beliefs and patients have over the space of 15 years passionately expressed the view that Professor Simon Wessely and his colleagues who claimed to be experts in CFS/ME have always been wholly and completely wrong.

As a campaigner and activist I have always stuck to the belief that the pseudo-science and the psychobabble of Professor Wessely and his cronies were fundamentally wrong.

My web site is a testament to the views of very knowledgeable people who provide ample evidence to confound the views of functional psychiatrists.

We have been waiting so long for solid scientific research to catch up and that research is finally catching up to yet again prove that psychiatrists got it wrong.

Professor Wessely, this is the day where you saw the beginning of the end for your involvement - you have been fundamentally wrong. The patients you have denigrated and persecuted for decades do not want or need your "help".

I sincerely hope that you and your colleagues such as Professor Peter White, Professor Michael Sharpe and Professor Trudy Chalder end up at the blunt end of a class action law suit in a major Court of Law.

How many people have died because of your failed beliefs and wrongful claims? Too many.....

How many patients have suffered because they have been subjected to sectioning or denied treatments and research because you have preached so vehemently that said patients were seriously mentally ill and in the process you have managed to steal all the monies for research and "treatment" for yourselves? Thousands.... Hundreds of Thousands....

And how many people at the Department of Health, NICE and the MRC have you brainwashed into denying researchers money for studies that would confound your flawed beliefs?

I hope the patient community gets its Justice on you all in the fullness of time.

If the psychiatrists are right and people with M.E. are holding on to abnormal illness beliefs,

why would you all be so excited at the thought of a cure?

We need to promote this concept."

The role of viruses in ME/CFS: what, if any, will be the effect of the discovery linking XMRV to

Prove It!

I would like to thank Tom Kindlon for his recent
Co-Cure postings on quotes from Dr. Bill Reeves (of CFS research at the CDC)
and his second in command, Dr. James Jones.

Over the past year, some forces in the highest reaches of medicine have made ever stronger efforts to burden the sick, diseased, and infected with psychiatric labels, and thus, to invalidate them and consign them to lives of numbing medication and endless untreated pain. Some pundits see this as psychiatric abuse perpetuated by non-psychiatrists --since it is rarely the psychiatrist, but rather, those in other specialities who step outside the circle of their formal training to impose these crude diagnoses on the medically ill.

(A classic example of denigration from doctors in the UK and around the world)

OK - here goes - my view as a GP in the UK with nearly 30 years in medicine and 25 years as a GP (family doctor). No doubt I will fall foul of the chronic fatigue syndrome enthusiasts but maybe it is they that have trouble accepting the truth.

The most remarkable thing about every sufferer of chronic fatigue syndrome that I have met is the language they use to express their symptoms. I do not doubt that they are experiencing them genuinely but the self obsessed and over analytical nature of the way they talk about their condition is characteristic of a psychosocial illness. It is, of course, quite possible that the trigger for the illness is indeed an infection. However what marks out the chronic fatigue victim from other individuals who feel run down after an illness that is the way they react to the symptoms and almost to savour each one with an intensity that is remarkable to the educated observer. Chronic fatigue syndrome victims do not just have pain in the limbs which interferes with walking. Typically they relate incredible tales of spending an hour getting dressed “literally dragging myself across the floor”. Objectively there is nothing to correlate with such dramatic descriptions and in my experience most people with severe neurological problems including major stroke sufferers do not use th sort of language to describe their difficulties and manage to dress themselves in a fraction of the time.

Read in full Comment 35 and respond to it on the NYT Blog

New York Times Health

Friday 16th October 2009

Readers Ask: A Virus Linked to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Denise Grady, a science writer for The New York Times, recently explored the link between a recently discovered virus called XMRV and chronic fatigue syndrome, in â€œIs a Virus the Cause of Fatigue Syndrome? On the Consults blog, scientists and doctors from the International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a society of 500 biomedical and behavioral professionals, took readers questions on chronic fatigue syndrome.

Here, Dr. Nancy G. Klimas, who serves on the board of directors of the organization, answers questions on the recently discovered retrovirus and clinical care of chronic fatigue syndrome.

Read in Full here...

http://consults.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/readers-ask-a-virus-linked-to-chronic-fatigue-syndrome/

A scientific discovery could help millions of people suffering from neurological disease.

John Mitchell is spot on. Research into CFS and ME has been designated a UK Medical Research Council “high priority” area. The MRC convened a Research Advisory Group in 2003 and did a lot of talking. Six years down the line, with a Bill Reeves (CDC) chaired Research Summit, a new multidisciplinary panel and a lot more talk, we are still waiting for the MRC to put its money where its mouth is. The new MRC “Expert Group on CFS/ME Research” meets in November for a two day research workshop. For how many more years is the MRC going to be talking about its objective to encourage and conduct high-quality research into CFS and ME? Just do it.

Volume 6, Number 2: October 2009

Information and Support for the ME/CFS/FM Community
David S. Bell MD, FAAP, Editor

Holy smokes! Just when I want to retire this comes along. How am I going to get any peace and quiet?

Here is the Lyndonville News coming out within a week of a paper being published, and already what I have to say is old news. Probably everyone reading this newsletter has been on the edge of their seats listening to NPR, CBS, Reuters, and so on. The CDC has already said that it isn't going to pan out. It is my guess that the media coverage will intensify because this is really big news.

A wide-ranging, often rankly speculative and occasionally irreverent take on the world of chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)

Game Changer

"Hopefully this will finally make people change their attitudes to this disease." Dr. Judy Mikovits

The news had been in the air for the last week; the Whittemore Peterson Institute is going to publish something big - really big - on Friday. Then early Thursday the news was out - a retrovirus had been found in many if not almost all ME/CFS patients. The media had prepared themselves well - feature stories shot up on the Wall Street Journal, LA Times, NPR, Scientific American, etc.

It was big news indeed - after two decades chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) was back in the news in a big way. Ironically the last big splash like this in the 1990's featured a retrovirus in ME/CFS that didn't pan out and left a young researchers career in tatters. One has the feeling that that is not going to happen this time.

The front page of today’s Independent asks whether scientists have found the cause of ME (myalgic encephalitis), also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). The newspaper reported that researchers have found a “strong link” with a retrovirus called XMRV.

This study compared blood samples from 101 CFS patients with samples from 218 people without it. It found evidence of the XMRV virus in about two-thirds of the people with CFS and less than 4% of people without the disease.

================================================================================================

Please Note: I have only included excerpts from these articles. Please click on the links to read the articles in full

THE PROOF IS OUT THERE - PART III

The news we had been awaiting since May was finally announced. The research
on a novel virus to which Dr. Judy Mikovits alluded at 4th Invest in ME
International ME/CFS Conference in May, in answer to a question from Hillary
Johnson, has been published by Science magazine.
The researchers at the Whittemore-Peterson Institute (WPI), together with
the Cleveland Clinic and the National Cancer Institute have reported that
67% of 101 ME patients tested Drs. Judy Mikovits and Daniel Peterson from WPI
positive for infection with xenobiotic murine retrovirus (XMRV), a
gammaretrovirus associated with a subset of prostate cancer. Only 3.7% of
218 healthy subjects tested were positive for the virus.

(links to audio embedded on pages)
'All Things Considered' with Dr. Mikovits and Annette Whittemore - length: 03:37

'Morning Edition' with Dr. Peterson(includes transcript of interview)
- length: 04:34

Whittemore Peterson Institute Scientists Discover Significant link between XMRV and ME/CFS

RENO, NV – A recently identified retrovirus called XMRV has been linked to a debilitating neuroimmune disease that affects more than one million people in the United States. Scientists from the Whittemore Peterson Institute (WPI), located at the University of Nevada, Reno, and their collaborators from the National Cancer Institute and the Cleveland Clinic, have discovered a retroviral link to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). They recently published their groundbreaking findings in the journal, Science, one of the world’s leading journals of original scientific research, global news and commentary. The paper, entitled “Detection of Infectious Retrovirus, XMRV, in the Blood Cells of CFS Patients,” is a major breakthrough in understanding the origins of this disease.

http://www.afme.org.uk/news.asp?newsid=64

Researchers find virus in blood cells of CFS patients

09 October 2009

Researchers at the Whittemore Peterson Institute in Reno, USA have identified genetic material (DNA) from a mouse virus - murine leukaemia virus-related virus (XMRV) - in 68 out of 101 CFS patients (67%) compared to 8 out of 218 (3.7%) of healthy people.

Further blood tests showed that more than 95% of CFS patients have antibodies to XMRV, indicating they had been infected with the virus, which may then have lain dormant in their DNA.

Dr Judy Mikovits, research director, Whittemore Peterson Institute, is testing a further 500 blood samples collated from patients diagnosed with CFS in London.

Although the sample is small, the results are very promising.

Sir Peter Spencer, CEO of Action for M.E., the UK's biggest M.E. charity, says:

"It is still early days so we are trying not to get too excited but this news is bound to raise high hopes among a large patient group that has been ignored for far too long.

"If the researchers can go on to prove a definitive cause and effect between this retrovirus and M.E., it will make an enormous difference to 250,000 British men, women and children who have M.E. in this country.

"Action for M.E. has long been calling on the UK Government to invest more in research into the causes of this horrible illness. Once we know the cause, researchers can start working on more effective treatments, preventive measures and ultimately a cure for M.E."

Please see the AfME website for the links they give to the Study, Press Release and other documents at the bottom of their page.

_________________________________________

The Independent story was soon followed up by the rest of the UK media, including the BBC. Most of the news reports gave a balanced and accurate account of the research but some incorrectly inferred that the sole cause of ME/CFS had now been conclusively discovered. A selection of UK media reports can be found in the October news archive on the MEA website.

The actual research paper was published in the online edition of Science, along with a perspective written by John Coffin (Department of Molecular Microbiology, Tufts University, Boston, USA) and Jonathan Stoye (National Institute for Medical Research, London).

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A virus linked to prostate cancer also appears to play a role in chronic fatigue syndrome, according to research that could lead to the first drug treatments for a mysterious disorder that affects 17 million people worldwide.

Researchers found the virus, known as XMRV, in the blood of 68 out of 101 chronic fatigue syndrome patients. The same virus showed up in only 8 of 218 healthy people, they reported on Thursday in the journal Science.

New York Times

Virus Is Found in Many With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

XMRV is a retrovirus, a member of the same family of viruses as the AIDS virus. These viruses carry their genetic information in RNA rather than DNA, ...October 9, 2009 - By DENISE GRADY - Health / Research

Study Links Virus to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

The XMRV virus is related to mouse leukemia viruses. ... Still, ''further study may reveal XMRV as a cause of more than one well-known 'old' ...October 8, 2009 - By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - Health

US scientists say they have made a potential breakthrough in understanding what causes the condition known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) or ME.

Their research in the journal, Science, suggests that a single retrovirus known as XMRV does play a role in ME.

They found the virus in 67% of ME patients compared to under 4% of the general population.

The symptoms are disabling tiredness, irritable bowels, intense headaches, depression and cognitive dysfunction. Yet for years many doctors argued that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome didn't exist. They refused even to dignify it with the name previous sufferers preferred – Myalgic encephalomyelitis. ME, they said, was just "me" writ large and dismissed it as yuppy flu. In the event the flu has lasted longer than the yuppies did. Some four million people suffer from it in the United States alone.

Now two potential avenues for cures come along at once. Researchers in Utah claim to have discovered the gene involved. Another team in Nevada have found compelling evidence that a retrovirus, like HIV, might well be implicated.

Has science found the cause of ME?

Breakthrough offers hope to millions of sufferers around the world
By Steve Connor, Science Editor

Scientists say they have made a dramatic breakthrough in understanding the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome –

a debilitating condition affecting 250,000 people in Britain which for decades has defied a rational medical explanation.

The researchers have discovered a strong link between chronic fatigue syndrome, which is sometimes known as ME or myalgic encephalomyelitis,

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/health/has-science-found-the-cause-of-me-14526958.html

This paragraph,from the above newspaper,sounds like really good news:-

""Although the published data falls short of proving a definitive cause-and-effect, one of the scientists behind the study said last night that she was confident that further unpublished data she had gathered over the past few weeks implicated the retrovirus as an important and perhaps sole cause of the condition.""

http://tinyurl.com/yz5k59m

Virus Linked to Prostate Cancer Is Also Tied to Chronic Fatigue
Share | Email | Print | A A A

By Rob Waters

Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- A virus linked to aggressive forms of prostate cancer may
also be tied to chronic fatigue syndrome, a condition that saps people of energy
for months or years.

The virus, XMRV, was found in the blood of two-thirds of a set of tissue samples
taken from people with the condition and 3.7 percent of a group of healthy
individuals, according to a study published today in the journal Science.

http://tinyurl.com/ygg7dtu

Virus Associated With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Scientists have found evidence that a virus may play a role in chronic fatigue
syndrome.

Vincent C. Lombardi of the Whittemore Peterson Institute in Reno, Nev., and
scientists elsewhere studied 101 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, a
baffling, debilitating and controversial condition that affects an estimated 17
million people worldwide. They discovered that 68 of the patients -- 67 percent
-- had a virus in their blood known as the xenotropic murine leukemia
virus-related virus or XMRV. Only eight of 218 similar subjects who did not have
chronic fatigue syndrome -- 3.7 percent -- had the virus in their blood, the
researchers report in a paper published online Thursday by the journal Science.

Good quote from Anne Whittemore:

"Now we have scientific proof that this infectious agent is a significant factor
in ME/CFS," Annette Whittemore said. "Patients and their doctors will soon have
a blood test to verify their diagnosis and provide the answers that they've been
seeking."

http://www.rgj.com/article/20091008/NEWS/91008028/1321/NEWS

UNR reports major breakthrough for chronic fatigue sufferers

By Lenita Powers • lpowers@rgj.com • October 8, 2009

A link between a retrovirus and neuro-immune diseases such as Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome has been discovered, scientists working with a research institute at
the University of Nevada, Reno announced today.

http://tinyurl.com/yczdsdr

Retrovirus might be culprit in chronic fatigue syndrome
People with the condition are much more likely than others to harbor a
little-known pathogen
By Nathan Seppa

The long, fruitless search for the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome has taken a
curious turn. Scientists report online October 8 in Science that an obscure
retrovirus shows up in two-thirds of people diagnosed with the condition. The
researchers also show the retrovirus can infect human immune cells.

http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/56048/

Viral cause for chronic fatigue?
Posted by Edyta Zielinska

A recently-discovered virus found to be associated with prostate cancer, has now
been linked to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), according to a study published
online in Science today (8 October). The study, although only correlative, lends
a greater immediacy to questions about how the virus is spread and what, if any,
other diseases it might cause.

Chronic fatigue syndrome linked to 'cancer virus'

* 19:00 08 October 2009 by Ewen Callaway

Chronic fatigue syndrome, the debilitating condition once dismissed as "yuppie
flu", has been linked to a virus that is also common in people with a certain
type of prostate cancer.

It's still not clear if the virus, called XMRV, causes chronic fatigue syndrome
(CFS), or is just more common in people with the disorder. But the discovery is
sure to reignite the debate over whether CFS is fundamentally a psychological
condition or a physiological one.

"It's a contentious area that lies somewhere between medicine and psychiatry,"
says Simon Wessely, a psychiatrist at King's College London who has been
vilified by patient groups for his scepticism of cut-and-dried explanations for
CFS and his assertion that psychological factors may play an important role.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j1D-pigPSTTp2e5nIJkjnPw2I4Ng

Scientists link chronic fatigue ailment to retrovirus

(AFP) - 44 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), a mysterious and debilitating
exhaustion that is not relieved by sleep, appears to be linked to a
retrovirus, researchers announced Thursday in a breakthrough study.

In the latest issue of Science, researchers said their findings could lead
to a treatment for an ailment affecting millions of Americans and that in
some cases render them unable to work or engage in even moderately robust
activities.

The study was hailed as a breakthrough in understanding the perplexing
syndrome for which there is no known treatment.

"We now have evidence that a retrovirus named XMRV is frequently present in
the blood of patients with CFS," said Judy Mikovits, director of research
for the Whittemore Peterson Institute (WPI) located at the University of
Nevada, Reno, one of the organizations which led the research.

"This discovery could be a major step in the discovery of vital treatment
options for millions of patients," Mikovits said.

http://www.nih.gov/news/health/oct2009/nci-08.htm

Embargoed for Release
Thursday, October 8, 2009
2 p.m. EDT

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775-336-4555

Cleveland Clinic Corp. Communications
Megan F. Pruce
216-445-7452

Consortium of Researchers Discover Retroviral Link to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Scientists have discovered a potential retroviral link to chronic fatigue
syndrome, known as CFS, a debilitating disease that affects millions of people
in the United States. Researchers from the Whittemore Peterson Institute (WPI),
located at the University of Nevada, Reno, the National Cancer Institute (NCI),
part of the National Institutes of Health, and the Cleveland Clinic, report this
finding online Oct. 8, 2009, issue of Science.

"We now have evidence that a retrovirus named XMRV is frequently present in the
blood of patients with CFS. This discovery could be a major step in the
discovery of vital treatment options for millions of patients," said Judy
Mikovits, Ph.D., director of research for WPI and leader of the team that
discovered this association. Researchers cautioned however, that this finding
shows there is an association between XMRV and CFS but does not prove that XMRV
causes CFS.

The scientists provide a new hypothesis for a retrovirus link with CFS. The
virus, XMRV, was first identified by Robert H. Silverman, Ph.D., professor in
the Department of Cancer Biology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research
Institute, in men who had a specific immune system defect that reduced their
ability to fight viral infections.

"The discovery of XMRV in two major diseases, prostate cancer and now chronic
fatigue syndrome, is very exciting. If cause-and-effect is established, there
would be a new opportunity for prevention and treatment of these diseases," said
Silverman, a co-author on the CFS paper.

Retrovirus Linked to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Could Aid in Diagnosis
Recently implicated in some severe prostate cancer patients, the retrovirus XMRV
has now been found in many with chronic fatigue--changing the landscape for
diagnosis and possible treatment

By Katherine Harmon

More so than many illnesses, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) frustrates those who
suffer from it and those close to them, due to its nebulous assembly of
symptoms, along with continued controversies over its etiology, diagnosis,
treatment and even its nomenclature. Now, the discovery of a familiar retrovirus
in many CFS patients could bring new energy to the field—and fresh hope for more
specific medical care.

Chronic fatigue is in part a misnomer. The syndrome often has more to do with
immune system abnormalities than pervasive tiredness—although the two can go
hand in hand. The symptoms range from exhaustion to muscle pain, giving CFS a
reputation among some as a "wastebasket diagnosis". The slipperiness of the
syndrome is in part because "it's diagnosed based on exclusion," says Judy
Mikovits, director of research at the Whittemore Peterson Institute for
Neuro-Immune Disease in Reno, Nev., and co-author of research on the retrovirus
findings published online today in Science. Doctors often apply the label if no
other explanation can be found for a patient's symptoms, which may be part of
the reason it seems to pop up in everyone from overworked career women to
continually sick children.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091008/sc_nm/us_fatigue_virus_1

Study isolates virus in chronic fatigue sufferers
By David Morgan David Morgan 55 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A virus linked to prostate cancer also appears to play a
role in chronic fatigue syndrome, according to research that could lead to the
first drug treatments for a mysterious disorder that affects 17 million people
worldwide.

Researchers found the virus, known as XMRV, in the blood of 68 out of 101
chronic fatigue syndrome patients. The same virus showed up in only 8 of 218
healthy people, they reported on Thursday in the journal Science.

Judy Mikovits of the Whittemore Peterson Institute in Nevada and colleagues at
the National Cancer Institute and the Cleveland Clinic emphasized that the
finding only shows a link between the virus and chronic fatigue syndrome, or
CFS, and does not prove that the pathogen causes the disorder.

Much more study would be necessary to show a direct link, but Mikovits said the
study offers hope that CFS sufferers might gain relief from a cocktail of drugs
designed to fight AIDS, cancer and inflammation.

http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091008/full/news.2009.983.html

Virus linked to chronic fatigue syndrome

Prostate cancer pathogen may be behind the disease once dubbed 'yuppie flu'.

Lizzie Buchen

A study on chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) has linked the mysterious and
controversial disease to a recently discovered retrovirus. Just last month
researchers found the same virus to be associated with aggressive prostate
tumours.
Chronic fatigue syndrome is seen as a serious but poorly defined
disease.PUNCHSTOCK

CFS is marked by debilitating exhaustion and often an array of other symptoms,
including memory and concentration problems and painful muscles and joints. The
underlying cause of the disease is unknown; it is diagnosed only when other
physical and psychiatric diseases have been excluded. Though the disease's
nebulous nature originally drew scepticism from both doctors and the general
public, most of the medical community now perceives it as a serious — if poorly
defined — disease.

Now Judy Mikovits of the Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease
in Reno, Nevada, and her colleagues think they have discovered a potential
pathogenic link to CFS. In patients with the disease from different parts of the
United States, 67% were infected with a retrovirus known as XMRV. Less than 4%
of controls carried the virus.

"I can't wait to be able to tell my patients," says Mikovits, who is also the
vice president of drug development for Genyous Biomed in Henderson, Nevada.
"It's going to knock their socks off. They've had such a stigma. People have
just assumed they were just complainers who didn't handle stress well."
Prostate puzzle

CFS researchers have long had their eyes on retroviruses. A number of the
symptoms, including fatigue and cognitive dysfunction, can occur when the immune
system is dealing with a viral infection, and the disease is often preceded by a
flu-like illness. Although a number of retroviruses have been hypothesized to
play a role in CFS, none has ever been confirmed.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125501227713473525.html

Retrovirus Linked to Chronic-Fatigue Syndrome

By AMY DOCKSER MARCUS

Researchers have linked an infectious virus known to cause cancer in animals to
chronic-fatigue syndrome, a major discovery for sufferers of the condition and
one that concerned scientists for its potential public-health implications.

An estimated 17 million people world-wide suffer from chronic-fatigue syndrome,
a devastating condition about which there is little medical consensus. CFS is
characterized by debilitating fatigue and chronic pain, among other symptoms,
but diagnosis is generally made by ruling out other diseases, and there are no
specific treatments.

Many patients say they are told by doctors that their problems are
psychological, so a study showing a strong association between a virus and CFS
is likely to change the field.

But the significance of the finding, published Thursday in Science, extends far
beyond the community of people living with CFS. Researchers are just as
concerned about the finding that nearly 4% of healthy people used as controls in
the study were also infected with the virus, called XMRV. If larger studies
confirm these numbers, it could mean that as many as 10 million people in the
U.S. and hundreds of millions of people around the world are infected with a
virus that is already strongly associated with at least two diseases.

The study was done by researchers at the Whittemore Peterson Institute for
Neuro-Immune Disease in Reno, Nev., the National Cancer Institute and the
Cleveland Clinic.

http://tinyurl.com/yhqmfjc

Emerging retrovirus turns up in new patients
Novel virus can spread between people, may lie behind other common illnesses

Electron micrograph of xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) in
the blood of a chronic fatigue syndrome patient.

Source: Whittemore Peterson Institute

A retrovirus first seen in prostate cancer patients three years ago has now been
discovered in the blood of people suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS),
Vincent Lombardi and colleagues report1 today in Science. The virus can be
passed on from person to person and may be linked with other health conditions,
experts say.

"We have discovered a highly significant association between the XMRV
[xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus] retrovirus and CFS," write
Lombardi, from the Whittemore Peterson Institute in Nevada, USA, and colleagues.
Two-thirds of 101 patients included in the study had the viral DNA in their
blood, compared with just 3.7% of healthy controls.

User johnvincent posted this to the ProHealth boards-
http://www.prohealth.com/fibromyalgia/blog/boardDetail.cfm?id=1368010

*************************************

'Retrovirus might be culprit in chronic fatigue syndrome'
People with the condition are much more likely than others to harbor a
little-known pathogen
By Nathan Seppa
Web edition : 1:50 pm

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/48157/title/Retrovirus_might_be culprit_in_chronic_fatigue_syndrome

The long, fruitless search for the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome
has taken a curious turn. Scientists report online October 8 in
Science that an obscure retrovirus shows up in two-thirds of people
diagnosed with the condition. The researchers also show the retrovirus
can infect human immune cells.

These findings don't establish that the pathogen, called
gammaretrovirus XMRV, causes chronic fatigue, cautions study coauthor
Robert Silverman, a molecular biologist at the Lerner Research
Institute of the Cleveland Clinic. "Nevertheless, it's exciting
because it is a viable candidate for a cause."

Roughly 1 to 4 million people in the United States have chronic
fatigue syndrome, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. The condition shows up as mental and physical exhaustion,
memory lapses, muscle pain, insomnia, digestive distress and other
health problems. Doctors often diagnose chronic fatigue only after
ruling out everything else. Its cause is unknown.

http://tinyurl.com/yktwtje

October 9, 2009, Integrative Medicine

From Chronic Fatigue to Lyme: Medically Unexplained No More

Labeling sick patients psychiatric is medical abuse.

Over the past year, forces at the highest reaches of medicine have made ever stronger efforts to burden the chronically ill with psychiatric labels, consigning them to often mind-numbing psych meds and untreated infection, immune dysfunction, and pain. Some critics see this as psychiatric abuse at the hands of non-psychiatrists --since it is rarely the psychiatrist, but rather, those in other specialities who step outside the circle of their training to impose these crude diagnoses on patients with medical ills.

www.physorg.cohttp://www.physorg.com/news174232427.html

Scientists link chronic fatigue ailment to retrovirus
October 8th, 2009 in Medicine & Health / Diseases

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), a mysterious and debilitating exhaustion that is
not relieved by sleep, appears to be linked to a retrovirus, researchers
announced Thursday in a breakthrough study.

In the latest issue of Science, researchers said their findings could lead to a
treatment for an ailment affecting millions of Americans and that in some cases
render them unable to work or engage in even moderately robust activities.

The study was hailed as a breakthrough in understanding the perplexing syndrome
for which there is no known treatment.

"We now have evidence that a retrovirus named XMRV is frequently present in the
blood of patients with CFS," said Judy Mikovits, director of research for the
Whittemore Peterson Institute (WPI) located at the University of Nevada, Reno,
one of the organizations which led the research.

"This discovery could be a major step in the discovery of vital treatment
options for millions of patients," Mikovits said.

Other health agencies which contributed to the study were the National Cancer
Institute (NCI), the National Institutes of Health, and the Cleveland Clinic.

Researchers cautioned that while there appears to be a relationship between the
retrovirus and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, they have not proven that the illness
is caused by XMRV.

They noted that earlier research has linked the retrovirus with prostate cancer
as well.

"The discovery of XMRV in two major diseases, prostate cancer and now chronic
fatigue syndrome, is very exciting," said Robert Silverman, a professor in the
Department of Cancer Biology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute,
and co-author of the CFS study.

"If cause-and-effect is established, there would be a new opportunity for
prevention and treatment of these diseases," he said.

Good quote from Mikovits in this one:

"In terms of treatment, it means that any CFS patient with XMRV will be
classified as having an infectious disease, and not a psychiatric one," says
Mikovits.

http://tinyurl.com/ygks4wb

Bangalore: As if viruses haven't sprung enough surprises on the world this year,
jumping from pigs to humans to create the swine flu epidemic scare, scientists
have now stumbled upon a new one that's present in two-thirds of people
suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), a debilitating disease whose
causes are unknown even though it affects at least 1% of the world population.

New dimension: An electron micrograph of the virus XMRV detected in a patient
with chronic fatigue syndrome. Whittemore Peterson Institute

In Friday's issue of Science, a team of researchers from the US reports that
they have uncovered the human retrovirus XMRV (xenotropic murine leukaemia
virus) in the blood samples of CFS patients and concludes that the virus has a
role to play in the cause and progression of the disease.

Here's a link to an interview with Judy Mitovits and Annette Whittemore, talking
about new research at the WPI. Apologies for those not on broadband.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRtxMYI-zKg

Dr Mitovits talks about NKC cells and the failure to attack and kill viruses.

She also mentions the involement of genetic susceptibilities.
This was filmed in March, before yesterdays announcement.

(press release) Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009 2 p.m. EDT Frankie Vigil R&R Partners 775-336-4555 [log in to unmask]

'Whittemore Peterson Institute Scientists Discover Significant link between XMRV and ME/CFS' RENO, NV –

A recently identified retrovirus called XMRV has been linked to a debilitating neuroimmune disease that affects more than one million people in the United States. Scientists from the Whittemore Peterson Institute (WPI), located at the University of Nevada, Reno, and their collaborators from the National Cancer Institute and the Cleveland Clinic, have discovered a retroviral link to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). They recently published their groundbreaking findings in the journal, Science, one of the world’s leading journals of original scientific research, global news and commentary. The paper, entitled “Detection of Infectious Retrovirus, XMRV, in the Blood Cells of CFS Patients,” is a major breakthrough in understanding the origins of this disease.

“Since the original Science paper was submitted, we have continued to refine our test for XMRV and have surprisingly found that 95 percent ME/CFS samples tested positive for XMRV antibodies in the plasma. This finding clearly points to the retrovirus as a significant contributing factor in this illness,” said Judy Mikovits, Ph.D., director of research for WPI and leader of the team that discovered this association.

This landmark study was the first to isolate XMRV particles from the blood, and show that it can be transmitted between blood cells. XMRV was originally discovered in prostate cancer tissue of men with a specific genetic immune system defect by Dr. Robert H. Silverman of the Cleveland Clinic. A similar immune system defect in patients with ME/CFS led researchers to look for the virus in banked blood samples donated from several medical practices throughout the United States. Other retroviruses, such as HIV and HTLV-1, are known to cause cancer and immune deficiencies in humans. This study showed XMRV can be found in human blood cells and is infectious. Researchers have confirmed that this retrovirus is transmitted through body fluids and is not airborne. WPI researchers have continued their in-depth studies of XMRV to clarify its effects on the human immune system.

Scientists at WPI are clinically validating a blood test for the detection of XMRV in ME/CFS and other human diseases. X associated neuro-immune disease, or XAND, a new disease entity encompassing ME/CFS, will require additional research funding to find effective treatments for patients. With anticipated funding, WPI will begin the work of determining if any currently approved drugs can suppress XMRV, followed closely by human clinical trials to advance the most effective patient treatments.

“This is the breakthrough that we have been hoping for. Now we have scientific proof that this infectious agent is a significant factor in ME/CFS,” said Annette Whittemore, founder and president of WPI and mother of a ME/CFS patient. “Patients and their doctors will soon have a blood test to verify their diagnosis and provide the answers that they’ve been seeking.” Daniel Peterson, M.D., medical director of WPI added, “Patients with ME/CFS (XAND) deal with a myriad of health issues as their quality of life declines. I’m excited about the possibility of providing patients who are positive for XMRV a definitive diagnosis, and hopefully very soon, a range of effective treatments options.”

Information relating to XMRV associated neuroimmune disease can be found at www.wpinstitute.org. Those with XAND (ME/CFS) and/or fibromyalgia, interested in participating in research studies to further the development of diagnostic tests, should complete the questionnaire available at www.wpinstitute.org. The Center for Molecular Medicine, now under construction, at the University of Nevada School of Medicine in Reno, is the future home of the Whittemore Peterson Institute. “We’re excited about the opening of our new facility next summer, which will not only add thousands of square feet to our existing laboratory space, but will also provide new space for comprehensive patient care,” added Whittemore.

Whittemore Peterson Institute The Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease exists to bring discovery, knowledge, and effective treatments to patients with illnesses that are caused by acquired dysregulation of both the immune system and the nervous system, often results in lifelong disease and disability. The WPI is the first institute in the world dedicated to X associated neuro-immune disease (XAND), and other X associated diseases, integrating patient treatment, basic and clinical research and medical education

The spectrum of neuro-immune diseases including: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS), Atypical MS, Fibromyalgia and Gulf War Syndrome, share common abnormalities in the innate immune response inc, which result in chronic immune activation and immune deficiency.

We have detected the retroviral infection XMRV is greater than 95% of the more than 200 ME/CFS, Fibromylagia, Atypical MS patients tested. The current working hypothesis is that XMRV infection of B, T, NK and other cells of the innate immune response causes the chronic inflammation and immune deficiency resulting in an inability to mount an effective immune response to opportunistic infections.

This discovery opens an entire new avenue of Neuro-Immune Disease related research and our discovery has brought to this field world-renown immunologists and retrovirologists building our team of collaborators to translate our discoveries into new treatments as soon as possible.

Because retroviruses are known to cause inflammatory diseases, neurological disease immune deficiency and cancer the discovery of XMRV has far reaching implications for the prevention and treatment of not only lymphoma, one of the potentially devastating complications of ME/CFS but prostate cancer and perhaps many others.

As National Academy of Sciences member and expert retrovirologist, John Coffin wrote in the commentary accompanying our landmark publication in Science "One New Virus-How many Old Diseases". We look forward to translating this discovery into treatment options!

For more information on retroviruses, download a PowerPoint presentation by Kathryn S. Jones, Ph.D.; SAIC-Frederick/NCI-Frederick: Retrovirus101.ppt

Researchers at the Whittemore Peterson Institute in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute and the Cleveland Clinic, have recently discovered the presence of a retrovirus in blood samples from patients diagnosed with chronic ME/ CFS. The human retrovirus, identified as XMRV, has now been found to be in over 95 percent of the patients’ blood samples in this study group.

XMRV is a human retrovirus and is similar to HIV and HTLV-1. It was first identified by Dr. Robert Silverman, in prostate cancer tissue of men with a specific genetic defect in their antiviral defense pathway. Prior to the Whittemore Peterson Institute study, XMRV had not been isolated from a human diseased population or been shown to be infectious and transmissible.

What is the link between XMRV and ME/CFS, fibromyalgia and other neuro-immune diseases?

Our initial research showed that 67% of the ME/CFS patient samples tested positive for XMRV. Further work has found that 95% tested positive. Work continues to understand how this virus works within neuro-immune diseases, but this discovery proves a significant correlation between this serious retrovirus and these diseases.
A few fibromyalgia samples were tested and yes, they were positive. However the sampling was very small, and testing will have to continue on a much larger scale to begin to draw significant conclusions. In addition, many patients with ME/CFS have been given the diagnosis of fibromyalgia when in fact they have ME/CFS and fibromyalgia.

XMRV is thought to be transmitted through body fluids such as blood, semen, and mother’s breast milk but is not transmitted through the air. It is not known whether XMRV is more easily transmitted than other human retroviruses.

No, retroviruses are not traditionally airborne viruses. However, since XMRV is a blood borne retrovirus, it may be possible to transmit through sexual contact, sharing needles, blood transfusions, and breastfeeding. Sharing household items like toothbrushes, razors, or items that come into contact with blood is not recommended as a precautionary measure.
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Is there a test available for XMRV? I think I have ME/CFS or have been diagnosed with this.

The WPI has developed a blood test for the detection of XMRV. The test is currently undergoing clinical evaluation and validation. We hope to have a clinical test available to the public within the year.

In other studies XMRV has been detected in very aggressive cancerous prostate tumors. We do not know all of the health ramifications of XMRV or ME/CFS, but we do know that some people with ME/CFS, have on average a lower life expectancy than someone without this chronic disease. One may have XMRV and not have ME/CFS as evidenced by positive results of 3.7 percent of our control samples.

Patients who have been diagnosed with ME/CFS have been shown to have a unique immune deficiency in a part of their antiviral system called the RNase L pathway. This pathway was also deficient in men whose cancer samples were first used in the discovery of XMRV. In this study, however, Whittemore Peterson Institute researchers have found XMRV in patients without an RNase L pathway deficiency. It is not known if XMRV causes this deficiency or if patients with this deficiency are more susceptible to the virus’ effects or both.

Where did the Whittemore Peterson Institute get the blood samples used for this study?

The blood samples used in this historic study were collected from several different regions within the United States and included both a known ME/CFS population and a control group. Of those diagnosed with ME/CFS, over 95 percent have recently been found to have antibodies to XMRV in their blood.

Causation of ME/CFS is likely to be a multi-factorial process which occurs in a susceptible person with common viral co-infections. Chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex, systemic neuro-immune disease that is estimated to affect over one million Americans and 17 million people worldwide. ME/CFS has traditionally been diagnosed by the exclusion of other similarly presenting conditions, such as MS and lupus, and by a series of symptoms; making the diagnosis an expensive and difficult process. Until now, a single viral link (while suspected by many) had not been made because so many common viruses have been found to be reactivated in persons with ME/CFS. This finding suggests a role for XMRV in the pathogenesis of ME/CFS and creates a better understanding of the disease. Our work suggests but does not prove that XMRV may be the underlying cause of ME/CFS. Much additional work needs to be done to understand how XMRV causes disease and what types of diseases it is linked to it.

If I am pregnant or thinking about getting pregnant and have ME/CFS, should I be concerned about protecting my unborn child?

As a ME/CFS patient who is either pregnant or thinking about getting pregnant, you should speak with your physician regarding XMRV and safety measures you can use to minimize transmission of this virus to your child.

Research is still ongoing to determine the best treatments for those who are positive for XMRV. It is possible that antiviral therapies developed for other retroviruses may be useful against another RNA virus like XMRV. However, these are generally toxic therapies with considerable side effects making it imperative that one be very careful before beginning any new therapies. Obviously, only begin any therapies approved by your physician.

XMRV was originally discovered in prostate cancer tumors by Dr. Robert Silverman. Scientists from the Whittemore Peterson Institute, Cleveland Clinic and the National Cancer Institute were the first to discover XMRV in the blood of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) patients.
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Currently there are only three known infectious human retroviruses; HIV, HTLV-1 and 2 and now XMRV. HIV causes AIDS and HTLV-1 and 2 causes T-cell leukemia and T-cell lymphoma. XMRV is the most recent retrovirus discovered to infect humans and has been linked to neurological disease and prostate cancer.

I have been diagnosed with ME/CFS and recently tested positive for XMRV. My friends and family ask that if I am sick and have a retrovirus, why do I look normal?

Like other retroviruses known to infect humans, these illnesses appear to be invisible to the untrained eye. A physician, however, can see the signs of illness, and still must carefully examine the patient to know for certain who is ill and with what disease. Many diseases fall into this category. Unless one develops a disease that creates physical lesions that people can see e.g. psoriasis, the mask of lupus or the crippling bone changes of arthritis, most people can not see how debilitating the illness actually is. In addition, each person responds differently to treatment and therefore can maintain a higher quality of health and appearance of health. In the case of HIV, many people are infected but do not appear to be ill.

Most thought ME/CFS was a woman’s disease. But XMRV has been found in men with prostate cancer and now people with ME/CFS. What does this say about ME/CFS?

ME/CFS is not a woman’s disease. In fact the epidemiological study done by Dr. Lenny Jason has shown that this disease occurs in men and women and is also prevalent in children. Instances of outbreaks in which entire families and groups of friends became ill near the same time, have been reported across the US, the UK and other countries.

Does this latest information prove once and for all that ME/CFS is not a psychological or psychosomatic illness as described by those who don’t understand the disease?

Absolutely! Actually, there are thousands of research articles showing the very real biological problems that ME/CFS patient’s experience such as low NK cell count and function, MRI and SPEC scan changes, and repeated chronic infections, to mention just a few. Only the most stubborn and misinformed individuals refuse to believe that this disease is real and serious. The process of placing poorly understood illnesses into a psychological category is very similar to what happened in the early days of MS and epilepsy before the advent of technologies which proved the illnesses were “real.” Unfortunately, many in the scientific and medical fields have not learned from their past mistakes.

For the purposes of this study, samples were collected from many different areas within the United States. However, as with other retroviruses, there is no reason to believe that the virus is not present in all other parts of the world.

Volume 6, Number 2: October 2009

Information and Support for the ME/CFS/FM Community David S. Bell MD, FAAP, Editor

Game Changer

Whittemore Peterson Institute Scientists Discover Significant link between XMRV and ME/CFS

Researchers find virus in blood cells of CFS patients

Information and Support for the ME/CFS/FM Community
David S. Bell MD, FAAP, Editor