Researchers investigating UK samples have found no association between the controversial xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus (XMRV) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Their study, published in BioMed Central's open access journal Retrovirology, calls into question a potential link described late last year by an American research team.
Kate Bishop from the MRC National Institute for Medical Research worked with a team of researchers to test blood and serum samples from 170 CFS patients and 395 healthy controls, using quantitative PCR and a virus neutralization assay. She said, "No association between XMRV infection and CFS was observed in the samples tested, either by PCR or serological methodologies. Our findings therefore appear inconsistent with the previous report that isolated XMRV from the blood cells of CFS patients. We are confident that, although we were unable to replicate the detection, our PCR assay is more sensitive than the earlier method and possessed the necessary sensitivity to detect XMRV had it been present".
Bishop and her colleagues point out that CFS likely encompasses a range of diseases, and it is still possible that some of them might be associated with XMRV infection. They say, "There has been much discussion and controversy amongst CFS researchers and patients alike, which highlights the need for additional investigations in this area. Following our findings, it would seem a prudent next step for subsequent studies to compare samples and protocols between different laboratories around the world".
The findings of this Retrovirology study are supported by results from a recently published work from Imperial College London that also found no proof that XMRV infection is associated with CFS.
Notes to Editors
1. Absence of xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus in UK patients with chronic fatigue syndrome
Harriet C T Groom, Virginie C Boucherit, Kerry Makinson, Edward Randal, Sarah Baptista, Suzanne Hagan, John W Gow, Frank M Mattes, Judith Breuer, Jonathan R Kerr, Jonathan P Stoye and Kate N Bishop
Retrovirology 2010, 7:10 doi:10.1186/1742-4690-7-10
Article available at journal website: http://www.retrovirology.com/content/7/1/10
Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.
2. Retrovirology is an Open Access, online journal that publishes stringently peer-reviewed, high-impact articles on basic retrovirus research.
3. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector.
4. The original research linking XMRV to CFS:
Detection of an Infectious Retrovirus, XMRV, in Blood Cells of Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Vincent C. Lombardi, Francis W. Ruscetti, Jaydip Das Gupta, Max A. Pfost, Kathryn S. Hagen, Daniel L. Peterson, Sandra K. Ruscetti, Rachel K. Bagni, Cari Petrow-Sadowski, Bert Gold, Michael Dean, Robert H. Silverman, Judy A. Mikovits
Science 23 October 2009: Vol. 326. no. 5952, pp. 585 – 589
DOI: 10.1126/science.1179052
The recently published work from Imperial College London:
Failure to Detect the Novel Retrovirus XMRV in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Erlwein O, Kaye S, McClure MO, Weber J, Wills G, et al.
PLoS ONE 2010 5(1): e8519. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008519
Journal
Retrovirology