Key result
Highly sensitive PCR assays detected MLV-like gag sequences in human DNA preparations, but their provenance could not be identified, meaning it cannot be concluded that these sequences originated in the blood samples.
Highly sensitive PCR assays detected MLV-like sequences in human samples, but environmental or reagent contamination could not be ruled out, highlighting the challenges of detecting murine gammaretroviruses in human blood.
Caution against inferring MLV infection from PCR positives in human samples; leaves open true prevalence versus contamination artifacts.
Gammaretroviruses related to murine leukemia virus (MLV) have variously been reported to be present or absent in blood from chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) patients and healthy controls. Using subjects from New York State, we have investigated by PCR methods whether MLV-related sequences can be identified in nucleic acids isolated from whole blood or from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) or following PBMC culture. We have also passaged the prostate cancer cell line LNCaP following incubation with plasma from patients and controls and assayed nucleic acids for viral sequences. We have used 15 sets of primers that can effectively amplify conserved regions of murine endogenous and exogenous retrovirus sequences. We demonstrate that our PCR assays for MLV-related gag sequences and for mouse DNA contamination are extremely sensitive. While we have identified MLV-like gag sequences following PCR on human DNA preparations, we are unable to conclude that these sequences originated in the blood samples.
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Lee et al. (2012) studied Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) (n=76). PCR assays for murine gammaretroviruses vs. Healthy controls was evaluated on Detection of MLV-related gag sequences and mouse DNA contamination. Highly sensitive PCR assays detected MLV-like gag sequences in human DNA preparations, but their provenance could not be identified, meaning it cannot be concluded that these sequences originated in the blood samples.
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