CONSORTIUM OF RESEARCHERS DISCOVER RETROVIRAL LINK TO CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME

[Guest guest]

Great news, bad news,   Yeah, CFS patients are no longer crazy or lazy. They are

sick.

bad news, they are only looking at one pathogen.. and where did they pick up

this virus?

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

NATIONAL

INSTITUTES OF HEALTH NIH News

National Cancer Institute (NCI) <http://www.nci. nih.gov/>

Embargoed for

Release: Thursday, October 8, 2009, 2 p.m. EDT

CONTACTS:

NCI Office

of Media Relations, 301-496-6641, <e-mail: ncipressofficers@ mail.nih. gov>

Whittemore Institute, ie Vigil, 775-336-4555,

<e-mail:ie. vigil@rrpartners .com>

Cleveland Clinic Corp.

Communications, F. Pruce, 216-445-7452,

<e-mail:prucem@ ccf.org> 

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 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 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.

Commonality of an immune system defect in patients with CFS and prostate

cancer led researchers to look for the virus in their blood samples. In this

study, WPI scientists identified XMRV in the blood of 68 of 101 (67 percent) CFS

patients.  In contrast, they found that eight of 218 healthy people (3.7

percent) contained XMRV DNA. The research team not only found that blood cells

contained XMRV but also expressed XMRV proteins at high levels and produced

infectious viral particles. A clinically validated test to detect XMRV

antibodies in patients' plasma is currently under development.

These

results were also supported by the observation of retrovirus particles in

patient samples when examined using transmission electron microscopy. The data

demonstrate the first direct isolation of infectious XMRV from humans.

 

" These compelling data allow the development of a hypothesis

concerning a cause of this complex and misunderstood disease, since retroviruses

are a known cause of neurodegenerative diseases and cancer in man, " said Francis

Ruscetti, Ph.D.,  Laboratory of Experimental Immunology, NCI.

Retroviruses like XMRV have also been shown to activate a number of

other latent viruses. This could explain why so many different viruses, such as

Epstein-Barr virus, which was causally linked to Burkitt's and other lymphomas

in the 1970s, have been associated with CFS. It is important to note that

retroviruses, like XMRV, are not airborne.  

" The scientific

evidence that a retrovirus is implicated in CFS opens a new world of

possibilities for so many people, " said Annette Whittemore, founder and

president of WPI and mother of a CFS patient.  " Scientists can now begin

the important work of translating this discovery into medical care for

individuals with XMRV related diseases. "

Dan , M.D., medical

director of WPI added, " Patients with CFS 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. "

The

Whittemore 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 resulting in lifelong disease and disability. www.wpinstitute.

org.

The Lerner

Research Institute is home to Cleveland Clinic's laboratory, translational and

clinical research. Its mission: to promote human health by investigating in the

laboratory and the clinic the causes of disease and discovering novel approaches

to prevention and treatments; to train the next generation of biomedical

researchers; and to foster productive collaborations with those providing

clinical care. More than 1,200 people in 11 departments work in research

programs focusing on cardiovascular, cancer, neurologic, musculoskeletal,

allergic and immunologic, eye, metabolic, and infectious disease. The Institute

also is an integral part of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of

Case Western Reserve University.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI)

leads the National Cancer Program and the NIH effort to dramatically reduce the

burden of cancer and improve the lives of cancer patients and their families,

through research into prevention and cancer biology, the development of new

interventions, and the training and mentoring of new researchers. For more

information about cancer, please visit the NCI Web site at http://www.cancer.

gov or call NCI's Cancer

Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) .

The National

Institutes of Health (NIH) -- The Nation's Medical Research Agency -- includes

27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health

and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and

supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it

investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare

diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit <www.nih.gov>.

------------ --------- --------- -

REFERENCE:

Lombardi VC, Ruscetti FW, Gupta JD, Pfost MA, Hagen KS, DL, 

Ruscetti SK, Bagni RK, Petrow-Sadowski C, Gold B, Dean M, Silverman RH, and

Mikovits JA. Detection of Infectious Retrovirus, XMRV, in Blood Cells of

Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Online October 8, 2009.

Science.

 

##

This NIH News Release is available online

at:

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

[Guest guest]

Reading this regarding retroviruses mentioned in your article a, which is

a wonderful find, it's easy to see how a retrovirus could look the same as

cancer, or vice versa, or may be cancer, as the retrovirus causes a change in

cell DNA:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrovirus

Article says sharing info with NIH and Cancer Institute. I bet they aren't

interested!!! Boy, what a loss of money for them, to figure out what is causing

cancer.

>

> Great news, bad news,   Yeah, CFS patients are no longer crazy or lazy. They

are sick.

> bad news, they are only looking at one pathogen.. and where did they pick up

this virus?

>

>

> U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

> NATIONAL

> INSTITUTES OF HEALTH NIH News

> National Cancer Institute (NCI) <http://www.nci. nih.gov/>

> Embargoed for

> Release: Thursday, October 8, 2009, 2 p.m. EDT

>

>

[Guest guest]

Thank you for this link and info. I suffer from chronic fatigue but wonder

where it came about. I did not have it until after my mold exposure... so

where would this virus have come from???

>

> Great news, bad news,   Yeah, CFS patients are no longer crazy or lazy. They

are sick.

> bad news, they are only looking at one pathogen.. and where did they pick up

this virus?

>

>

> U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

> NATIONAL

> INSTITUTES OF HEALTH NIH News

> National Cancer Institute (NCI) <http://www.nci. nih.gov/>

> Embargoed for

> Release: Thursday, October 8, 2009, 2 p.m. EDT

>

> CONTACTS:

> NCI Office

> of Media Relations, 301-496-6641, <e-mail: ncipressofficers@ mail.nih. gov>

>

>

> Whittemore Institute, ie Vigil, 775-336-4555,

> <e-mail:ie. vigil@rrpartners .com>

>

> Cleveland Clinic Corp.

> Communications, F. Pruce, 216-445-7452,

> <e-mail:prucem@ ccf.org> 

>

> 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 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 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.

>

>

> Commonality of an immune system defect in patients with CFS and prostate

> cancer led researchers to look for the virus in their blood samples. In this

> study, WPI scientists identified XMRV in the blood of 68 of 101 (67 percent)

CFS

> patients.  In contrast, they found that eight of 218 healthy people (3.7

> percent) contained XMRV DNA. The research team not only found that blood cells

> contained XMRV but also expressed XMRV proteins at high levels and produced

> infectious viral particles. A clinically validated test to detect XMRV

> antibodies in patients' plasma is currently under development.

>

> These

> results were also supported by the observation of retrovirus particles in

> patient samples when examined using transmission electron microscopy. The data

> demonstrate the first direct isolation of infectious XMRV from humans.

>

>

>  

> " These compelling data allow the development of a hypothesis

> concerning a cause of this complex and misunderstood disease, since

retroviruses

> are a known cause of neurodegenerative diseases and cancer in man, " said

Francis

> Ruscetti, Ph.D.,  Laboratory of Experimental Immunology, NCI.

>

>

> Retroviruses like XMRV have also been shown to activate a number of

> other latent viruses. This could explain why so many different viruses, such

as

> Epstein-Barr virus, which was causally linked to Burkitt's and other lymphomas

> in the 1970s, have been associated with CFS. It is important to note that

> retroviruses, like XMRV, are not airborne.  

>

> " The scientific

> evidence that a retrovirus is implicated in CFS opens a new world of

> possibilities for so many people, " said Annette Whittemore, founder and

> president of WPI and mother of a CFS patient.  " Scientists can now begin

> the important work of translating this discovery into medical care for

> individuals with XMRV related diseases. "

>

> Dan , M.D., medical

> director of WPI added, " Patients with CFS 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. "

>

> The

> Whittemore 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 resulting in lifelong disease and disability. www.wpinstitute.

org.

>

> The Lerner

> Research Institute is home to Cleveland Clinic's laboratory, translational and

> clinical research. Its mission: to promote human health by investigating in

the

> laboratory and the clinic the causes of disease and discovering novel

approaches

> to prevention and treatments; to train the next generation of biomedical

> researchers; and to foster productive collaborations with those providing

> clinical care. More than 1,200 people in 11 departments work in research

> programs focusing on cardiovascular, cancer, neurologic, musculoskeletal,

> allergic and immunologic, eye, metabolic, and infectious disease. The

Institute

> also is an integral part of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of

> Case Western Reserve University.

>

>

> The National Cancer Institute (NCI)

> leads the National Cancer Program and the NIH effort to dramatically reduce

the

> burden of cancer and improve the lives of cancer patients and their families,

> through research into prevention and cancer biology, the development of new

> interventions, and the training and mentoring of new researchers. For more

> information about cancer, please visit the NCI Web site at http://www.cancer.

gov or call NCI's Cancer

> Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) .

>

> The National

> Institutes of Health (NIH) -- The Nation's Medical Research Agency -- includes

> 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health

> and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and

> supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it

> investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare

> diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit

<www.nih.gov>.

> ------------ --------- --------- -

> REFERENCE:

> Lombardi VC, Ruscetti FW, Gupta JD, Pfost MA, Hagen KS, DL, 

> Ruscetti SK, Bagni RK, Petrow-Sadowski C, Gold B, Dean M, Silverman RH, and

> Mikovits JA. Detection of Infectious Retrovirus, XMRV, in Blood Cells of

> Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Online October 8, 2009.

> Science.

>

>  

> ##

>

> This NIH News Release is available online

> at:

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

>

[Guest guest]

bell,

For a long time I've believed that part of what can happen is that

we already have a virus, bacteria, or fungi inside our body. But it

doesn't grow (infect) because the conditions aren't quite right. It's

why we don't get the flu today or tomorrow but do the next day.

Or not at all. The 'germs' are certainly plentiful. But they don't

infect.

So the virus being discussed may already be present but can't

grow until the environment of our body changes from being

overwhelmed with mold or bacteria or filth caused my moisture or

chemicals or any of a thousand other events hits a " trigger " point.

Carl Grimes

Healthy Habitats LLC

-----

Thank you for this link and info. I suffer from chronic fatigue but wonder where

it came about. I did not have it until after my mold exposure... so where would

this virus have come from???

>

> Great news, bad news, Yeah, CFS patients are no longer crazy or lazy. They are

sick.

> bad news, they are only looking at one pathogen.. and where did they pick up

this virus?

>

>

> U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

> NATIONAL

> INSTITUTES OF HEALTH NIH News

> National Cancer Institute (NCI) <http://www.nci. nih.gov/>

> Embargoed for

> Release: Thursday, October 8, 2009, 2 p.m. EDT

>

> CONTACTS:

> NCI Office

> of Media Relations, 301-496-6641, <e-mail: ncipressofficers@ mail.nih. gov>

>

>

> Whittemore Institute, ie Vigil, 775-336-4555,

> <e-mail:ie. vigil@rrpartners .com>

>

> Cleveland Clinic Corp.

> Communications, F. Pruce, 216-445-7452,

> <e-mail:prucem@ ccf.org>

>

> 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 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 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.

>

>

> Commonality of an immune system defect in patients with CFS and prostate

> cancer led researchers to look for the virus in their blood samples. In this

> study, WPI scientists identified XMRV in the blood of 68 of 101 (67 percent)

CFS

> patients. In contrast, they found that eight of 218 healthy people (3.7

> percent) contained XMRV DNA. The research team not only found that blood cells

> contained XMRV but also expressed XMRV proteins at high levels and produced

> infectious viral particles. A clinically validated test to detect XMRV

> antibodies in patients' plasma is currently under development.

>

> These

> results were also supported by the observation of retrovirus particles in

> patient samples when examined using transmission electron microscopy. The data

> demonstrate the first direct isolation of infectious XMRV from humans.

>

>

>

> " These compelling data allow the development of a hypothesis

> concerning a cause of this complex and misunderstood disease, since

retroviruses

> are a known cause of neurodegenerative diseases and cancer in man, " said

Francis

> Ruscetti, Ph.D., Laboratory of Experimental Immunology, NCI.

>

>

> Retroviruses like XMRV have also been shown to activate a number of

> other latent viruses. This could explain why so many different viruses, such

as

> Epstein-Barr virus, which was causally linked to Burkitt's and other lymphomas

> in the 1970s, have been associated with CFS. It is important to note that

> retroviruses, like XMRV, are not airborne.

>

> " The scientific

> evidence that a retrovirus is implicated in CFS opens a new world of

> possibilities for so many people, " said Annette Whittemore, founder and

> president of WPI and mother of a CFS patient. " Scientists can now begin

> the important work of translating this discovery into medical care for

> individuals with XMRV related diseases. "

>

> Dan , M.D., medical

> director of WPI added, " Patients with CFS 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. "

>

> The

> Whittemore 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 resulting in lifelong disease and disability. www.wpinstitute.

org.

>

> The Lerner

> Research Institute is home to Cleveland Clinic's laboratory, translational and

> clinical research. Its mission: to promote human health by investigating in

the

> laboratory and the clinic the causes of disease and discovering novel

approaches

> to prevention and treatments; to train the next generation of biomedical

> researchers; and to foster productive collaborations with those providing

> clinical care. More than 1,200 people in 11 departments work in research

> programs focusing on cardiovascular, cancer, neurologic, musculoskeletal,

> allergic and immunologic, eye, metabolic, and infectious disease. The

Institute

> also is an integral part of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of

> Case Western Reserve University.

>

>

> The National Cancer Institute (NCI)

> leads the National Cancer Program and the NIH effort to dramatically reduce

the

> burden of cancer and improve the lives of cancer patients and their families,

> through research into prevention and cancer biology, the development of new

> interventions, and the training and mentoring of new researchers. For more

> information about cancer, please visit the NCI Web site at http://www.cancer.

gov or call NCI's Cancer

> Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) .

>

> The National

> Institutes of Health (NIH) -- The Nation's Medical Research Agency -- includes

> 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health

> and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and

> supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it

> investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare

> diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit

<www.nih.gov>.

> ------------ --------- --------- -

> REFERENCE:

> Lombardi VC, Ruscetti FW, Gupta JD, Pfost MA, Hagen KS, DL,

> Ruscetti SK, Bagni RK, Petrow-Sadowski C, Gold B, Dean M, Silverman RH, and

> Mikovits JA. Detection of Infectious Retrovirus, XMRV, in Blood Cells of

> Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Online October 8, 2009.

> Science.

>

>

> ##

>

> This NIH News Release is available online

> at:

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

>

----------

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