Division of Virology, MRC National Institute for Medical Research, London NW7 1AA, UK.
J Gen Virol. 2012 May;93(Pt 5):915-924. doi: 10.1099/vir.0.041038-0. Epub 2012 Feb 22.
In 2006, a new retrovirus was isolated from prostate cancer patient tissue. Named xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV), this was potentially the third class of retrovirus to be pathogenic in humans. XMRV made a more dramatic impact on the wider scientific community, and indeed the media, in 2009 when it was reported to be present in a remarkably high proportion of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome as well as a significant, albeit smaller, proportion of healthy controls. The apparent strong link to disease and the fear of a previously unknown retrovirus circulating in the general population lead to a surge in XMRV research. Subsequent studies failed to find an association of XMRV with disease and, in most cases, failed to find the virus in human samples. In 2011, the case against XMRV and human disease strengthened, ending with several decisive publications revealing the origin of the virus and demonstrating contamination of samples. In this review, we outline the passage of research on XMRV and its potential association with disease from its isolation to the present day, where we find ourselves at the end of a turbulent story.
2006 年，一种新的逆转录病毒从前列腺癌患者组织中分离出来。这种病毒被命名为嗜异性鼠白血病病毒相关病毒（XMRV），它可能是第三类对人类具有致病性的逆转录病毒。XMRV 在更广泛的科学界，甚至在媒体中产生了更显著的影响，因为它在慢性疲劳综合征患者中以极高的比例存在，在相当一部分健康对照组中也存在显著但较小的比例。与疾病的明显强烈关联，以及对一种以前未知的在普通人群中传播的逆转录病毒的恐惧，导致了 XMRV 研究的激增。随后的研究未能发现 XMRV 与疾病的关联，而且在大多数情况下，未能在人类样本中发现该病毒。2011 年，针对 XMRV 和人类疾病的研究取得了进展，最终有几项决定性的出版物揭示了病毒的来源，并证实了样本的污染。在这篇综述中，我们概述了从分离到现在 XMRV 及其与疾病的潜在关联的研究进展，我们发现自己处于一个动荡故事的结尾。
