XMRV Retrovirus: Round up 23: WPI NYT article, Coffin on NPR Radio, papers

XMRV Retrovirus: Round up 23: WPI NYT article, Coffin on NPR Radio, papers and Hillary Johnson on CFSAC

WordPress Shortlink: http://wp.me/p5foE-2nY

 

Media

New York Times  |  Denise Grady  |  11 November 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/giving/12SICK.html

A Big Splash From an Upstart Medical Center

[A version of this article appeared in print on November 12, 2009, on page F8 of the New York edition.]

Related article: Is a Virus the Cause of Fatigue Syndrome? (October 13, 2009)

TO many people who suffer from the poorly understood illness called chronic fatigue syndrome, a recent study linking the disorder to a virus was a victory for the little guys.

For one thing, the study pointed to a physical cause for an illness that the medical establishment had often snidely dismissed as psychosomatic. The research could not be ignored: it was published last month in Science, one of the world’s pickiest and most prestigious journals…

Read full article here

—————-

NPR Radio  |  16 October 2009

Interview with Dr John Coffin (c0-author of Science Perspectives article)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113870280

10 mins 30 secs

Virus Tied To Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Scientists have identified a virus lurking in 68 of 101 patients diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. Whether the virus — known as XMRV — causes the syndrome is unclear. Molecular biologist John Coffin describes how the findings fit with what scientists know about XMRV.

Transcript also available

Scroll down NPR page for

Virus Linked To Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
by Jon Hamilton

8 October 2009

—————-

Papers

AHC Media LLC

http://ahcpub.com/hot_topics/?htid=1&httid=2005

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome — Could a “Stealth Virus” Be Lurking?

From Infectious Disease Alert | November 2009

Abstract & Commentary

By John F. Joseph, MD, FACP, FIDSA, FSHEA, Associate Chief of Staff for Education, Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Administration Medical Center; Professor of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, is Associate Editor for Infectious Disease Alert.

Dr. John is a consultant for Cubist, Genzyme, and bioMerieux, and is on the speaker’s bureau for Cubist, GSK, Merck, Bayer, and Wyeth.

Source: Lombardi VC et al. Science. 8 October 2009 (10.1126/science.1179052).

Full Abstract and Commentary here

—————-

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19906923?dopt=Abstract

J Virol. 2009 Nov 11. [Epub ahead of print]
Androgen Stimulates Transcription and Replication of XMRV (Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus-Related Virus).

Dong B, Silverman RH.

Department of Cancer Biology, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44195.

XMRV is a gammaretrovirus originally identified in a subset of prostate cancer patients. Because androgens stimulate prostate tumors and some retroviruses, we investigated effects of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) on XMRV transcription and replication. Transcription from the XMRV U3 region was stimulated up to 2-fold by DHT, but only in cells containing a functional androgen receptor. Mutations in the glucocorticoid response element (GRE) of XMRV impaired basal transcription and androgen responsiveness. Furthermore, DHT stimulated XMRV replication by 3-fold, whereas androgen inhibitors (casodex and flutamide) suppressed viral growth up to 3-fold. Findings suggest that integration of the XMRV LTR into host DNA could impart androgen stimulation on cellular genes.

PMID: 19906923 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

—————-

Press Releases

Hemispherx

Source: Globe Newswire
Date: 11 November 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS198174+11-Nov-2009+GNW20091111 

Law offices Bernard M. Gross, P.C. filed a class action lawsuit against Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc.

Source: Marketwire
Date: 12 November 2009
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/INVESTOR-ALERT-Former-iw-3847944880.html

Investor Alert: Former Attorney General of Louisiana Charles C. Foti, Jr. and KSF notify Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. investors of Lead Plaintiff Application Deadline in Securities Class Action Lawsuit

Source: MarketWire
Date: 12 November 2009
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/CORRECTION-Holzer-Holzer-iw-766428846.html 

Holzer Holzer & Fistel, LLC announces that it has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of investors in Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc.

Source: MarketWire
Date:  12 November 2009
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Izard-Nobel-LLP-Announces-iw-68919281.html

Izard Nobel LLP announces class action lawsuit against Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc.

—————-

Bloggers

Hillary Johnson  |  13 November 2009

New blog post about the recent CFSAC meeting in Washington, D.C. and the new scientific terrain created by the discovery of XMRV

THE FOG OF WAR

http://www.oslersweb.com/blog.htm?post=646449 

—————-

Commentary and quality forums

Rich Van Konynenburg via Co-Cure
12 November 2009

XMRV: necessary but not sufficient?

http://listserv.nodak.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0911b&L=co-cure&T=0&F=&S=&P=2951

—————-

Cort Johnson’s Phoenix Rising website: http://aboutmecfs.org/Rsrcs/XMRVResources.aspx

Cort Johnson’s Blog and comments: http://aboutmecfs.org/blog/

Cort Johnson’s Forums: http://forums.aboutmecfs.org/

Link Back

Whittemore Peterson Institute on Facebook

For initial Whittemore Peterson Press Release, NIH (National Institutes of Health) News Release, go here: http://wp.me/p5foE-272

For Science paper go here: http://wp.me/p5foE-2is

Click here for all previous XMRV Round ups and postings in reverse date order: http://meagenda.wordpress.com/category/xmrv/