Zoals te verwachten was van een studie door "vermoeidheidsdeskundigen" .....

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Invest in ME	Suzanne Vernon (CAA)

Berichtgeving in de media:

Research finds o proof that a virus is the cause of ME

By Michelle Roberts

Health reporter, BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8441491.stm

The blood samples were free of XMRV

UK scientists say they can find no proof that a particular virus is the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) or ME, contrary to recent claims.

The Imperial College London team say they want to share the findings as some patients are pinning their hopes on drugs to fight the virus called XMRV.

They analysed blood samples from 186 patients with CFS and found none had the virus, PLoS One journal reports.

Experts said the latest findings would be a bitter disappointment to many.

They said more trials were under way and when these report in coming months, scientists will be able to draw more firm conclusions.

Work in the US, published in Science, had found the retrovirus in 68 of 101 CFS patients.

The UK team say the conflict between the two studies might be down to differences between the patients enrolled or the way the research was conducted.

Or there might be different geographical types or strains of XMRV.

Regardless, they say potent antiretroviral drugs should not be used to treat CFS because there is not enough evidence that this is necessary or helpful.

The drugs may do more harm than good, they say.

Professor Myra McClure, one of the Imperial College London investigators, said: "We are confident that our results show there is no link between XMRV and chronic fatigue syndrome, at least in the UK."

She said they had used extremely sensitive DNA testing methods, called polymerase chain reaction, to look for the virus.

"If it had been there, we would have found it."

'Disappointing'

Co-author Professor Simon Wessely said the findings did not invalidate all previous research, some of which has shown that CFS can be triggered by other infectious agents, such as Epstein Barr Virus.

The charity Action for ME said it was disappointing to hear about these findings, but said no single small-scale study could be conclusive.

Dr Charles Shepherd, of The ME Association, said it was important to remain open-minded.

"We need to be extremely cautious until we know more. There has been enormous interest in this from patients.

"Some have been led into believing the cause and a test has been discovered and that treatment is just round the corner and that is not the case.

"Over the next few weeks and months we will have more results and then we can come to a conclusion.

"If it turns out that XMRV is important, we will have to start looking at whether it is worthwhile testing for it and treating it.

Failure to detect the novel retrovirus XMRV in chronic fatigue syndrome

PLoS ONE 2010;5(1): e8519. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008519.

Erlwein O, Kaye S, McClure MO, Weber J, Wills G, Collier D, Wessely S, Cleare A.

Background

In October 2009 it was reported that

68 of 101 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in the US

were infected with a novel gamma retrovirus,

xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus (XMRV),

a virus previously linked to prostate cancer.

This finding, if confirmed, would have a profound effect on the understanding and treatment of an incapacitating disease affecting millions worldwide.

We have investigated CFS sufferers in the UK to determine if they are carriers of XMRV.

Methodology

Patients in our CFS cohort had undergone medical screening

to exclude detectable organic illness and

met the CDC criteria for CFS.

DNA extracted from blood samples of 186 CFS patients were screened

for XMRV provirus and

for the closely related murine leukaemia virus

by nested PCR using specific oligonucleotide primers.

To control for the integrity of the DNA,

the cellular beta-globin gene was amplified.

Negative controls (water) and

a positive control (XMRV infectious molecular clone DNA)

were included.

While the beta-globin gene was amplified in all 186 samples,

neither XMRV nor MLV sequences were detected.

Conclusion

XMRV or MLV sequences were not amplified from DNA originating from CFS patients in the UK.

Although we found no evidence that XMRV is associated with CFS in the UK,

this may be a result of

population differences between North America and Europe

regarding the general prevalence of XMRV infection, and

might also explain the fact that two US groups found XMRV in prostate cancer tissue,

while two European studies did not.

Received: December 1, 2009;

Accepted: December 4, 2009;

Published: January 6, 2010

Full-text:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0008519

Met dank aan Brigitte.