Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - could a retrovirus be the culprit?

Written by Julie Taylor

In the October 8th issue of Science, some very interesting results were published from a group of scientists who may have connected a retrovirus to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).  Could this help get doctors and society to take CFS a bit more seriously?

The authors from this study reported in Science were researchers from the Whittemore Peterson Institute at the Cleveland Clinic and the National Cancer Institute.  Meanwhile, whether this study pans out or not, I found this little device which miraculously keeps me from being continuously sick.  My immune system is still suppressed - although I do not have CFS or ME - and the SOTA silver pulser (or as I call it, zapper) has meant I have not had a single cold or any sickness for almost a year (since I bought it).  Use my code CA50333 and they will give you a 10% discount...

There is evidence that a retrovirus named XMRV is frequently present in the blood of patients with CFS. If this were discovered to be the culprit, or a contributor, this could be a major step in the discovery of vital treatment options for millions of patients.

What is a retrovirus?

It is a virus whose genetic material is RNA rather than the DNA that we understand makes up most organisms. Retroviruses are unique in that they reproduce by transcribing themselves into DNA. An example of a retrovirus is HIV.

The virus, XMRV, was first identified by Robert H. Silverman, PhD, professor in the Department of Cancer Biology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute. He found XMRV in men who had a specific immune system defect that reduced their ability to fight viral infections.

XMRV was originally discovered in prostate cancer tumors by Dr. Robert Silverman. The scientists mentioned above were the first to discover XMRV in the blood of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) patients and these results are the subject of the online release of this article in Science.

A common immune system defect found 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%) CFS patients. In contrast, they found that 8 of 218 blood samples from healthy people (3.7%) contained XMRV.

These findings show there is an association between XMRV and CFS but does not prove that XMRV causes CFS. Still, it is interesting and provides a new hypothesis for a retrovirus link with CFS. It is important to remember that 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 have at some point been implicated as a cause of CFS.

If we develop simple blood tests for XMRV antibodies we can establish a better way of diagnosing CFS. If XMRV is found to be a culprit there is also the option down the line of antiviral therapy….but we aren’t there yet.