XMRV Negative Results found in UK study but not a Replication of initial methods
The first study claiming to replicate the initial WPI (Whittemore Peterson Institute) XMRV study have concluded that XMRV is not a leading factor in ME/CFS after finding no XMRV retrovirus, in the UK at least. These results are controversial as the methods used were not the same as the initial XMRV study even though claiming to be a Replication study. The patients were selected by Simon Wessely from the Institute of Psychiatry based on the 1994 (Fukuda) CFS case definition criteria. Simon Wessely has been pushing for the UK to adopt a Psychiatric approach in the treatment of ME/CFS. Below is a list of ways this study differed:
- The blood was collected from CFS patients in different types of blood collection tubes.
- The genomic DNA was extracted and purified using different techniques.
- The amount of genomic DNA included in the amplification assay was different.
- Different primer sequences were used that amplified different regions of the XMRV proviral DNA.
- The conditions of the PCR amplification assay were different – from the numbers of cycles, to the type of polymerase used.
Further replication studies are currently underway so more results should be published soon.