Defreitas, CFS and HHV-6-induced HERV-K18: Putting it all together
Connecting all of these may ultimately explain the retroviral involvement in CFS (as well as HIV-positive and HIV-negative AIDS).
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0062090
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19505843
Konnie Knox was looking into the HTLV connection to HHV-6:
The goals of the proposed studies are:
- to use contemporary molecular diagnostic techniques in an attempt to confirm the findings of Dr. DeFreitas with respect to the presence of HTLV-2 DNA sequences in the white blood cells of patients with CFS
- To correlate the presence of HTLV-2 DNA sequences with the presence of active infections with human herpesvirus six (HHV-6) or Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), two viruses that have been implicated in CFS
Role of the Human Endogenous Retrovirus HERV-K18 in Autoimmune Disease Susceptibility: Study in the Spanish Population and Meta-Analysis
Conclusion
Association of the HERV-K18.3 haplotype in chromosome 1 with autoimmune-disease susceptibility was confirmed through meta-analysis.http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0062090
HHV-6A infection induces expression of HERV-K18-encoded superantigen.
CONCLUSION:
These results imply that HHV-6A, either in latent form or during acute infection, directly transactivates HERV-K18. This HERV-K18 induction may be mediated through IFN-alpha that is produced by the HHV-6A-infected cells. The functional implications of superantigen expression are discussed.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19505843