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Xenotropic murine leukemia virus (MLV)-related virus (XMRV) has been amplified from human prostate cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) patient samples. Other studies failed to replicate these findings and suggested PCR contamination with a prostate cancer cell line, 22Rv1, as a likely source. MLV-like sequences have also been detected in CFS patients in longitudinal samples 15 years apart. Here, we tested whether sequence data from these samples are consistent with viral evolution. Our phylogenetic analyses strongly reject a model of within-patient evolution and demonstrate that the sequences from the first and second time points represent distinct endogenous murine retroviruses, suggesting contamination.

Original publication

DOI

10.1128/JVI.00827-11

Type

Journal article

Journal

J Virol

Publication Date

10/2011

Volume

85

Pages

10909 - 10913

Keywords

Cluster Analysis, Diagnostic Errors, Evolution, Molecular, Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic, Humans, Leukemia Virus, Murine, Longitudinal Studies, Phylogeny, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Sequence Analysis, DNA