Abstract
Gammaretrovirus-like sequences occur in most vertebrate genomes. Murine Leukemia Virus (MLV) like retroviruses (MLLVs) are a subset, which may be pathogenic and spread cross-species. Retroviruses highly similar to MLLVs (xenotropic murine retrovirus related virus (XMRV) and Human Mouse retrovirus-like RetroViruses (HMRVs)) reported from patients suffering from prostate cancer (PC) and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) raise the possibility that also humans have been infected. Structurally intact, potentially infectious MLLVs occur in the genomes of some mammals, especially mouse. Mouse MLLVs contain three major groups. One, MERV G3, contained MLVs and XMRV/HMRV. Its presence in mouse DNA, and the abundance of xenotropic MLVs in biologicals, is a source of false positivity. Theoretically, XMRV/HMRV could be one of several MLLV transspecies infections. MLLV pathobiology and diversity indicate optimal strategies for investigating XMRV/HMRV in humans and raise ethical concerns. The alternatives that XMRV/HMRV may give a hard-to-detect “stealth” infection, or that XMRV/HMRV never reached humans, have to be considered.
Highlights
Recent reports of human gammaretroviruses highly similar to murine gammaretroviruses in prostate cancer (PC) and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) patients raise questions regarding (i) the occurrence of such retroviral sequences in murine and other vertebrate genomes, (ii) probable routes of spread of such viruses, and (iii) available methods for the detection of infection with them
Retroviruses highly similar to MLLVs (xenotropic murine retrovirus related virus (XMRV) and Human Mouse retrovirus-like RetroViruses (HMRVs)) reported from patients suffering from prostate cancer (PC) and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) raise the possibility that humans have been infected
Gammaretroviruses related to the Murine Leukemia Virus (MLV) were found 2006 in a few percent of patients suffering from prostate cancer [9]
Summary
Recent reports of human gammaretroviruses highly similar to murine gammaretroviruses in PC and ME/CFS patients raise questions regarding (i) the occurrence of such retroviral sequences in murine and other vertebrate genomes, (ii) probable routes of spread of such viruses, and (iii) available methods for the detection of infection with them. We apply a phylogenetic aspect to the occurrence of XMRV/HMRV in genomes, and to the diagnostic search for it in humans. The comparative approach [1] can enhance the study of pathobiology and epidemiology of XMRV/HMRV. Given the recent great activity in the field, the review cannot be exhaustive. Reports indicating that all XMRV/HMRV findings in humans may be due to different forms of laboratory contamination [2, 3] stress the need for a critical evaluation
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