XMRV and MVL Testing for Gulf War Veterans at VA Hospitals Questioned!

News on Treatment Potential For XMRV,  Will It Help Ill Gulf War Veterans?

News by means of a new abstract on treatment potentials for XMRV and MVL appears below.

Still awaiting any results of testing for XMRV or MVL from Gulf War Veterans who are ill.  The author knows that samples were sent off for testing that involved gulf war veteran serum, but as yet no word on the results.  But if a paper is to be written then results may not be known until paper is published in a peer review journal.  Hopefully there will be breaking news on that sooner rather than later!  In the meantime researchers are examining treatment options and there definitely seems to be a fast tracking going on in the background.  For the hundreds of thousands gulf war veterans (90-91) it can not be fast enough. 

The hope is that we have a biomarker, a diagnostic test, and possible treatment in the near future.  It has been 20 years and quality of life and ability to recover enough to live a productive life is what should be the target!  The civilians with CFIDS/ME/Fibromyalgia numbering in the millions 1-4 in this nation alone have also been waiting for decades for recognition and help.

In the meantime DR Klimas is one researcher and medical doctor that has set up or in the process of setting up clinics to deal with this huge patient load.  But so far no word on how gulf war veterans will pay for this at an estimated cost of 3,300 dollars.  Will VA pay the bill for gulf war veterans?

That is a question no one has gotten an answer.  Certainly the VA is not paying yet for the testing that is now available.  No word yet if Tricare would pay or if insurance companies will pay for the testing that is available.  If you are a gulf war veteran speak up!  If you are a civilian let us know if your insurance is covering the testing cost!

We urgently need information flow not only to CFS patients but veterans.  As well as information flow to the VA Headquaters and to VA doctors.

Please veterans ask your doctors at the VA if they have heard about XMRV or MVL.  Please provide your feedback in the comments section below!

http://www.retrovirology.com/content/7/1/70

XMRV to antiretroviral inhibitors

Robert A Smith email, Geoffrey S Gottlieb email and A Dusty Miller email

Retrovirology 2010, 7:70doi:10.1186/1742-4690-7-70
Published: 31 August 2010
Abstract (provisional)

Background

XMRV (xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus) is the first known example of an exogenous gammaretrovirus that can infect humans. A limited number of reports suggest that XMRV is intrinsically resistant to many of the antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV-1 infection, but is sensitive to a small subset of these inhibitors. In the present study, we used a novel marker transfer assay to directly compare the antiviral drug sensitivities of XMRV and HIV-1 under identical conditions in the same host cell type.
Results

We extend the findings of previous studies by showing that, in addition to AZT and tenofovir, XMRV and HIV-1 are equally sensitive to AZddA (3′-azido-2′,3′-dideoxyadenosine), AZddG (3′-azido-2′,3′-dideoxyguanosine) and adefovir. These results indicate that specific 3′-azido or acyclic nucleoside analog inhibitors of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) also block XMRV infection with comparable efficacy in vitro. Our data confirm that XMRV is highly resistant to the non-nucleoside RT inhibitors nevirapine and efavirenz and to inhibitors of HIV-1 protease. In addition, we show that the integrase inhibitors raltegravir and elvitegravir are active against XMRV, with EC50 values in the nanomolar range.
Conclusions

Our analysis demonstrates that XMRV exhibits a distinct pattern of nucleoside analog susceptibility that correlates with the structure of the pseudosugar moiety and that XMRV is sensitive to a broader range of antiretroviral drugs than has previously been reported. We suggest that the divergent drug sensitivity profiles of XMRV and HIV-1 are partially explained by specific amino acid differences in their respective protease, RT and integrase sequences. Our data provide a basis for choosing specific antiretroviral drugs for clinical studies in XMRV-infected patients.