Study Undermines XMRV Connection to Human Disease

[HuckleB]

http://www.nih.gov/researchmatters/june2011/06132011XMRV.htm

"The retrovirus previously tied to prostate cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is unlikely to be responsible for either, according to new research. The virus appears to have arisen in the laboratory. The association with human disease was probably due to contamination of samples.

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A research team led by Dr. Vinay Pathak of NIH’s National Cancer Institute (NCI) set out to investigate whether XMRV could have originated in the laboratory. When studying cancer, researchers often graft human tumors onto mice to create what are called xenografts. The scientists examined the process used to create the xenografts as well as the subsequent procedures that led to the identification of XMRV.

In the online edition of Science on June 2, 2011, the researchers reported that the initial prostate tumor xenografts didn’t contain XMRV, but that later tumors derived from them did. The virus appears to have infected the human tumor cells while they were in mice.

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“Taken together, these results essentially close the door on XMRV as a cause of human disease,” says coauthor Dr. John Coffin, special advisor to the NCI director and a professor at Tufts University School of Medicine. Some evidence still suggests that these diseases may stem from viruses, but not from XMRV.

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