This article is part of the supplement: 15th International Conference on Human Retroviruses: HTLV and Related Viruses

Open Access Meeting abstract

Development of XMRV producing B Cell lines from lymphomas from patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Francis Ruscetti1*, Vincent C Lombardi2, Michael Snyderman3, Dan Bertolette4, Kathryn S Jones1 and Judy A Mikovits1

Author Affiliations

1 Center for Cancer Research NCI-Frederick, Frederick, Maryland, 21702, USA

2 Whittemore Peterson Institute, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, 89557, USA

3 Department of Medicine, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA

4 Basic Research Program, SAIC-Frederick, Inc., NCI-Frederick, Frederick, Maryland, 21702, USA

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Retrovirology 2011, 8(Suppl 1):A230 doi:10.1186/1742-4690-8-S1-A230


The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.retrovirology.com/content/8/S1/A230


Published:6 June 2011

© 2011 Ruscetti et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Meeting abstract

Previous studies have shown that CFS patients have an increased incidence of lympho-proliferative malignancy compared to the normal population [1]. While the incidence rate of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the United States is 0.02%, nearly 5% of the CFS patients developed the disease. Additionally, development of cancer coincides with an outgrowth of gamma delta T cells with specific clonal T-cell receptor gamma rearrangements. We hypothesized that infection with XMRV and/or other viruses can trigger a dysregulated immune response which favors the development of B-cell lymphoma.

In a study of 300 CFS patients, 13 developed lymphoproliferative disorders. Of those tested, 11/11 were positive for XMRV and 9/9 positive for clonal TCR gamma rearrangements. Spontaneous development of four B cells lines occurred during culture of cells from CFS patients. Three developed from B cells isolated from the peripheral blood (two of whom had B cell lymphoma) and one from a bone marrow biopsy. For all four lines, the B cells have a mature CD20+, CD23+ phenotype and produce infectious XMRV at a titer of >106 infectious units/ml. Virus production occurred despite extensive hypermutation of the proviruses in these cells by APOBEC3G.. Therefore XMRV infection may accelerate the development of B cell malignancies by either indirect chronic stimulation of the immune system and/or by direct infection of the B-cell lineage . Since viral load in peripheral blood is low, these data suggest that B cells in tissues such as spleen and lymph nodes could be an in vivo reservoir for XMRV.

References

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    Ann Epidemiol 1998, 8:245-249. PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text OpenURL