He was just an excerpt of news, reported by an obscure journal in the Netherlands. Yet he enlightened the Internet. Twitter was atwitter, mailboxes scientists from both sides of the Atlantic began to fill, and dozens of bloggers started jubilating. "It happened. I can not tell you all that this change in the world we have known for 25 years," a patient wrote on his blog. "Now to work on the part of the justification!"
The reason for all the excitement? Scientists at the US National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have confirmed the link, first published in Science last year between a human retrovirus and the elusive condition known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Earlier this year, three other groups said they were unable to replicate such a connection. That federal scientists confirmed now, it was huge mood lifter for patients, many of whom are desperate to find a biological cause and a cure for their debilitating disease.
But the story was not that simple. Science has learned that a paper describing the new findings, already accepted by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ( PNAS ), was put on hold because she directly contradicts another as- yet unpublished study by a third government agency, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This paper, a scientist said retrovirus, has been subjected to Retrovirology and is also waiting; We do not find a link between xenotropic-related murine leukemia virus virus (XMRV) and CFS. The contradiction has caused "nervousness" both PNAS and among senior officials of the Ministry of Health and Social Services, the three organizations are members, said a scientist with inside knowledge.
debate on XMRV began in 09 when a group of researchers led by Judy Mikovits of the Whittemore Peterson Institute (WPI) for Neuro-Immune Disease in Reno, Nevada, reported in science find traces of the virus in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, a type of white blood cells, 67% of CFS patients. In contrast, only 3.4% of healthy controls have been found to harbor the virus. The team also showed that XMRV can infect human cells and found that the virus had previously been linked to prostate cancer may play a role in the onset of CFS ( Science , the October 23, 09, p. 585).
many scientists were skeptical, however, and in May science published three technical comments that have tried drilling holes in the study, with a rebuttal by Mikovits and first author Francis Ruscetti the National Cancer Institute. At the moment, two groups in the UK and the Netherlands were also published papers failing to find a link; in fact, they found little or no XMRV infection signs at all, either in patients or in healthy people. Three other groups, two US and one from Europe, also reported negative results at the meetings, said Kim McCleary, president of the chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction Association of America's syndrome, a group patient advocacy.
FDA-NIH paper offer new hope that Mikovits is something after all, but until now the details of the work are rare. Ortho, a Dutch magazine about the nutritional and dietary supplements, last week issued a press release saying that Harvey Alter, a renowned virologist at the Clinical Center of the NIH, mentioned the study when he gave a lecture during a blood safety meeting in the Croatian capital Zagreb in late May In his PowerPoint presentation, Alter writes that data to the scientific study in 09 "are extremely strong and likely true, despite the controversy." Another bullet point said: "We (FDA and NIH) have independently confirmed the Lombardi group findings." (Vincent Lombardi WPI was the first author of the paper.) But the statement offered no details beyond this tantalizing summary, and a spokesman said NIH Alter is not available for comment.
Meanwhile, a working group with retrovirologist William Switzer at CDC, which has an independent study, held her closer to his chest cards. But Science spoke to several scientists who say they saw the data, and they are negative. Although it is not unprecedented for government scientists to be on opposite ends of a scientific debate, two contradictory press releases on an issue like flashpoint CFS would seem strange, scientists say. With the deferred publication, "they want to know what's going on first," said a researcher who said he was informed of the controversy.
Last week, the AABB, an international association of blood banks, has recommended to its members that they discourage CFS patients blood donation. A special working group on XMRV conceded that the evidence was preliminary, but decided it was "prudent" to err on the side of caution, said member of the working group Louis Katz, medical director at the regional blood center Mississippi Valley in Davenport, Iowa. "If [XMRV] turns out to be important," said Katz, "I do not want be criticized for doing nothing when I could do something. "
(This story is adapted from a longer in July 2 issue of Science. )
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