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 Peterson Institute, Frankie Vigil, 775-336-4555,
<e-mail:Frankie.vigil@rrpartners.com>
Cleveland Clinic Corp. Communications, Megan 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 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.
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 Peterson, 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 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 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,
Peterson 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.
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