來(lái)自美國(guó)國(guó)立衛(wèi)生研究院輸血醫(yī)學(xué)部,，美國(guó)食品與藥品管理局細(xì)胞與基因療法部等處的研究人員破解了慢性疲勞綜合癥的可能發(fā)病機(jī)理，這種疾病雖然之前發(fā)現(xiàn)是由細(xì)菌感染導(dǎo)致,，但是其發(fā)病機(jī)理至今未知。這一研究成果公布在《美國(guó)國(guó)家科學(xué)院院刊》（PNAS）雜志上，同期PNAS也配發(fā)了相關(guān)的評(píng)論性文章,。
領(lǐng)導(dǎo)這一研究的是著名的血液學(xué)專(zhuān)家Harvey J. Alter,，這位美國(guó)國(guó)家科學(xué)院院士是乙肝病毒的發(fā)現(xiàn)者之一，他曾利用凝膠擴(kuò)散技術(shù),，用曾多次接受輸血患者（如血友病,、白血病患者）的血液樣本與世界各地收集來(lái)的血液樣本進(jìn)行反應(yīng)，發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種神秘的蛋白,，并命名為澳大利亞抗原（Aa）,，也就是我們熟知的HBsAg，即乙型肝炎表面抗原,。
而在最新的文章中,，Alter教授與其他同事從慢性疲勞綜合征患者的外周血單核細(xì)胞中提取的DNA，發(fā)現(xiàn)稱(chēng)為鼠白血病病毒（MLV）相關(guān)病毒可能是這一病癥的發(fā)病原因,。
慢性疲勞綜合癥又稱(chēng)雅痞癥,、慢性伯基特淋巴瘤病毒(EBV)、慢性類(lèi)單核白血球增多癥等等,，其癥狀包括發(fā)燒,、喉嚨痛、淋巴結(jié)腫大,、極度疲勞,、失去食欲等。這些癥狀與感冒及其他病毒感染相似,，因此容易誤判,。
這種以免疫和神經(jīng)病癥狀為特點(diǎn)的慢性疲勞綜合癥是一種病因未知的使人衰弱的疾病。盡管微生物感染已經(jīng)被認(rèn)為是引發(fā)它的因素,，迄今科學(xué)家尚未把任何一種原因與這種疾病明確地聯(lián)系在一起,。
研究人員分析了從慢性疲勞綜合征患者的外周血單核細(xì)胞中提取的DNA，結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)在37位患者的32位中發(fā)現(xiàn)了鼠白血病病毒（MLV）樣病毒基因序列,。研究人員認(rèn)為，這些發(fā)現(xiàn)表明了需要進(jìn)一步研究從而確定鼠白血病病毒（MLV）相關(guān)病毒是否在其他患者人群中發(fā)現(xiàn),，以及這些病毒是否起到了引發(fā)這種疾病的作用,。
另外一個(gè)方面，這篇文章也引發(fā)了有關(guān)評(píng)審,、接受和發(fā)表論文所遵循的程序的討論,，同期PNAS也發(fā)表了社論。據(jù)稱(chēng)這篇文章在接受的時(shí)候,，由于考慮到了與另外一篇文章的結(jié)果相沖突,，因此作者主要要求延期發(fā)表。
另外一篇文章發(fā)表在《Retrovirology》雜志上，文章證明慢性疲勞綜合癥和病毒XMRV沒(méi)有關(guān)系,，這與PNAS這篇文章結(jié)果相反,，之后Alter教授等人修改了論文，但是仍然堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為找到了XMRV基因整合到宿主基因組的證據(jù),，不過(guò)作用也在文章中注明了這一結(jié)果需要進(jìn)一步研究之類(lèi)的話語(yǔ),。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原文出處：
PNAS 10.1073/pnas.1006901107
Detection of MLV-related virus gene sequences in blood of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome and healthy blood donors
Shyh-Ching Lo a , 1 , Natalia Pripuzova a , Bingjie Li a , Anthony L. Komaroff b , Guo-Chiuan Hung a , Richard Wang c , and Harvey J. Alter c , 1
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a serious systemic illness of unknown cause. A recent study identified DNA from a xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 68 of 101 patients (67%) by nested PCR, as compared with 8 of 218 (3.7%) healthy controls. However, four subsequent reports failed to detect any murine leukemia virus (MLV)-related virus gene sequences in blood of CFS patients. We examined 41 PBMC-derived DNA samples from 37 patients meeting accepted diagnostic criteria for CFS and found MLV-like virus gag gene sequences in 32 of 37 (86.5%) compared with only 3 of 44 (6.8%) healthy volunteer blood donors. No evidence of mouse DNA contamination was detected in the PCR assay system or the clinical samples. Seven of 8 gag-positive patients tested again positive in a sample obtained nearly 15 y later. In contrast to the reported findings of near-genetic identity of all XMRVs, we identified a genetically diverse group of MLV-related viruses. The gag and env sequences from CFS patients were more closely related to those of polytropic mouse endogenous retroviruses than to those of XMRVs and were even less closely related to those of ecotropic MLVs. Further studies are needed to determine whether the same strong association with MLV-related viruses is found in other groups of patients with CFS, whether these viruses play a causative role in the development of CFS, and whether they represent a threat to the blood supply.
