Archive for February, 2011

Food allergy/sensitivities contribute to most chronic diseases to a greater or lesser extent, as explained by my FIGHT program. This review has some new developments from mainstream medicine that you need to be aware of for managing this huge problem for most patients.

Garry F. Gordon MD,DO,MD(H)
President, Gordon Research Institute
www.gordonresearch.com         

Link: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/733146?sssdmh=dm1.659803&src=journalnl

Excerpt:

Abstract

Purpose of review Recent investigation has resulted in significant advances toward definitive therapeutic options for food allergy. In this review, we will explore novel immunotherapeutic interventions for the active treatment of food allergy.
Recent findings Because the injection route for allergen immunotherapy to foods has been associated with an unacceptable risk of severe anaphylactic reactions, use of mucosally targeted therapeutic strategies is of significant interest for food allergy. Allergen-specific immunotherapeutic approaches such as oral, sublingual, epicutaneous, and peptide immunotherapy have demonstrated efficacy in increasing threshold dose and inducing immunologic changes associated with both desensitization and oral tolerance in animal and human trials. More global immunomodulatory strategies, such as Traditional Chinese Medicine and anti-IgE therapy have been shown to effectively target the allergic response, and clinical trials are ongoing to determine the efficacy and safety in human food allergy.

Summary 
The advent of therapies that target the mucosal immune response to promote oral tolerance have shown great promise in the treatment of food hypersensitivity. However, there is still significant risk of adverse reactions associated with these therapeutic strategies and further study is needed to carefully advance these therapeutic modalities toward general clinical implementation.

Could oral Vitamin K-3 activate oral Vitamin C so efficiently that it could be a viable alternative to IV Vitamin C for seriously ill patients needing oxidative therapies? In Vitro research is very promising and I will present more on this topic for the ACAM oxidative workshop mid-April in Minneapolis that I am doing with Robert Rowen and others. 

Garry F. Gordon MD,DO,MD(H)
President, Gordon Research Institute
www.gordonresearch.com 

Excerpt:

The Vitamin C:Vitamin K3 System – Enhancers and Inhibitors of the Anticancer Effect

Davis W. Lamson, MS, ND; Yu-Huan Gu, PhD; Steven M. Plaza, ND, LAc; Matthew S. Brignall, ND; Cathy A. Brinton, ND; Angela E. Sadlon, ND

Abstract
The oxidizing anticancer system of vitamin C and vitamin K3 (VC:VK3, producing hydrogen peroxide via superoxide) was combined individually with melatonin, curcumin, quercetin, or cholecalciferol (VD3) to determine interactions. Substrates were LNCaP and PC-3 prostate cancer cell lines. Three of the tested antioxidants displayed differences in cell line cytotoxicity.

Melatonin combined with VC:VK3 quenched the oxidizing effect, while VC:VK3 applied 24 hours after melatonin showed no quenching. With increasing curcumin concentrations, an apparent combined effect of VC:VK3 and curcumin occurred in LNCaP cells, but not PC-3 cells. Quercetin alone was cytotoxic on both cell lines, but demonstrated an additional 50-percent cytotoxicity on PC-3 cells when combined with VC:VK3. VD3 was effective against both cell lines, with more effect on PC-3.

This effect was negated on LNCaP cells with the addition of VC:VK3. In conclusion, a natural antioxidant can enhance or decrease the cytotoxicity of an oxidizing anticancer system invitro, but generalizations about antioxidants cannot be made.

Link: http://www.i-sis.org.uk/newPathogenInRoundupReadyGMCrops.php

Excerpt:

USDA senior scientist sends “emergency” warning to US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on a new plant pathogen in Roundup Ready GM soybean and corn that may be responsible for high rates of infertility and spontaneous abortions in livestock Dr. Mae-Wan Ho

Please distribute widely and forward to your elected representatives 
An open letter appeared on the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance founded and run by Judith McGeary to save family farms in the US [1, 2]. The letter, written by Don Huber, professor emeritus at Purdue University, to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, warns of a pathogen “new to science” discovered by “a team of senior plant and animal scientists”. Huber says it should be treated as an “emergency”, as it could result in “a collapse of US soy and corn export markets and significant disruption of domestic food and feed supplies.”

The letter appeared to have been written before Vilsack announced his decision to authorize unrestricted commercial planting of GM alfalfa on 1 February, in the hope of convincing the Secretary of Agriculture to impose a moratorium instead on deregulation of Roundup Ready (RR) crops. 

The new pathogen appears associated with serious pervasive diseases in plants – sudden death syndrome in soybean and Goss’ wilt in corn – but its suspected effects on livestock is alarming. Huber refers to “recent reports of infertility rates in dairy heifers of over 20%, and spontaneous abortions in cattle as high as 45%.”

This could be the worst nightmare of genetic engineering that some scientists including me have been warning for years [3] (see Genetic Engineering Dream or Nightmare, ISIS publication): the unintended creation of new pathogens through assisted horizontal gene transfer and recombination.

Huber writes in closing: “I have studied plant pathogens for more than 50 years. We are now seeing an unprecedented trend of increasing plant and animal diseases and disorders. This pathogen may be instrumental to understanding and solving this problem. It deserves immediate attention with significant resources to avoid a general collapse of our critical agricultural infrastructure.”

The complete letter is reproduced below.

Dear Secretary Vilsack:

A team of senior plant and animal scientists have recently brought to my attention the discovery of an electron microscopic pathogen that appears to significantly impact the health of plants, animals, and probably human beings. Based on a review of the data, it is widespread, very serious, and is in much higher concentrations in Roundup Ready (RR) soybeans and corn-suggesting a link with the RR gene or more likely the presence of Roundup. This organism appears NEW to science!

This is highly sensitive information that could result in a collapse of US soy and corn export markets and significant disruption of domestic food and feed supplies. On the other hand, this new organism may already be responsible for significant harm (see below). My colleagues and I are therefore moving our investigation forward with speed and discretion, and seek assistance from the USDA and other entities to identify the pathogen’s source, prevalence, implications, and remedies.

We are informing the USDA of our findings at this early stage, specifically due to your pending decision regarding approval of RR alfalfa. Naturally, if either the RR gene or Roundup itself is a promoter or co-factor of this pathogen, then such approval could be a calamity. Based on the current evidence, the only reasonable action at this time would be to delay deregulation at least until sufficient data has exonerated the RR system, if it does. 

For the past 40 years, I have been a scientist in the professional and military agencies that evaluate and prepare for natural and manmade biological threats, including germ warfare and disease outbreaks. Based on this experience, I believe the threat we are facing from this pathogen is unique and of a high risk status. In layman’s terms, it should be treated as an emergency.

A diverse set of researchers working on this problem have contributed various pieces of the puzzle, which together presents the following disturbing scenario:

Unique Physical Properties 
This previously unknown organism is only visible under an electron microscope (36,000X), with an approximate size range equal to a medium size virus. It is able to reproduce and appears to be a micro-fungal-like organism. If so, it would be the first such micro-fungus ever identified. There is strong evidence that this infectious agent promotes diseases of both plants and mammals, which is very rare.

Pathogen Location and Concentration
It is found in high concentrations in Roundup Ready soybean meal and corn, distillers meal, fermentation feed products, pig stomach contents, and pig and cattle placentas.

Linked with Outbreaks of Plant Disease
The organism is prolific in plants infected with two pervasive diseases that are driving down yields and farmer income-sudden death syndrome (SDS) in soy, and Goss’ wilt in corn. The pathogen is also found in the fungal causative agent of SDS (Fusarium solani fsp glycines).

Implicated in Animal Reproductive Failure
Laboratory tests have confirmed the presence of this organism in a wide variety of livestock that have experienced spontaneous abortions and infertility. Preliminary results from ongoing research have also been able to reproduce abortions in a clinical setting.

The pathogen may explain the escalating frequency of infertility and spontaneous abortions over the past few years in US cattle, dairy, swine, and horse operations. These include recent reports of infertility rates in dairy heifers of over 20%, and spontaneous abortions in cattle as high as 45%.

For example, 450 of 1,000 pregnant heifers fed wheatlege experienced spontaneous abortions. Over the same period, another 1,000 heifers from the same herd that were raised on hay had no abortions. High concentrations of the pathogen were confirmed on the wheatlege, which likely had been under weed management using glyphosate.

Recommendations
In summary, because of the high titer of this new animal pathogen in Roundup Ready crops, and its association with plant and animal diseases that are reaching epidemic proportions, we request USDA’s participation in a multi-agency investigation, and an immediate moratorium on the deregulation of RR crops until the causal/predisposing relationship with glyphosate and/or RR plants can be ruled out as a threat to crop and animal production and human health.

It is urgent to examine whether the side-effects of glyphosate use may have facilitated the growth of this pathogen, or allowed it to cause greater harm to weakened plant and animal hosts. It is well-documented that glyphosate promotes soil pathogens and is already implicated with the increase of more than 40 plant diseases; it dismantles plant defenses by chelating vital nutrients; and it reduces the bioavailability of nutrients in feed, which in turn can cause animal disorders. To properly evaluate these factors, we request access to the relevant USDA data.

I have studied plant pathogens for more than 50 years. We are now seeing an unprecedented trend of increasing plant and animal diseases and disorders. This pathogen may be instrumental to understanding and solving this problem. It deserves immediate attention with significant resources to avoid a general collapse of our critical agricultural infrastructure.

Sincerely,

COL (Ret.) Don M. Huber
Emeritus Professor, Purdue University
APS Coordinator, USDA National Plant Disease Recovery System (NPDRS)

References
1. “Researcher: Glyphosate (Roundup) or Roundup Ready Crops May Cause Animal Miscarriages”, Jill Richardson, La Vida Locavore, 18 February 2011
http://www.lavidalocavore.org/diary/4523

2. “Researcher: Glyphosate (Roundup) or Roundup Ready Crops May Cause Animal Miscarriages”, 18 February 2011, http://farmandranchfreedom.org/gmo-miscarriages

3. Ho MW. Genetic Engineering Dream of Nightmare? The Brave New World of Bad Science and Big Business, Third World Network, Gateway Books, MacMillan, Continuum, Penang, Malaysia, Bath, UK, Dublin, Ireland, New York, USA, 1998, 1999, 2007 (reprint with extended Introduction). http://www.i-sis.org.uk/genet.php

There are 7 comments on this article so far. Add your comment 
Nancy Oden Comment left 21st February 2011 16:04:27
Thank you so much for this. I will spread it about and encourage others to do so. I recall reading years ago about sows aborting litters when fed RR corn and/or soy exclusively. This could cause Goldman-Sachs and that ilk to buy up even more of the world’s grains and hoard them for higher prices. Monsanto has a lot to answer for – let’s hope there’s such a thing as Karma. 
Rory Short Comment left 21st February 2011 18:06:45
I can only agree with you. It looks like an indisputable, actual, nightmare has arrived rather than just the fear of something of this kind happening which fear is what has gripped us ant-GM lobbyists from the very inception of the commercialization of GM seeds. 
Brian John Comment left 21st February 2011 19:07:48
BV, this is not the first we are hearing of this. For years now, peer-reviewed papers have been showing cell damage and reproductive problems associated with animals that have consumed GM feed. It has been difficult to explain WHY this damage has been occurring — maybe this is a breakthrough on this score. There have been hardly any studies on the effects of GM feed on larger mammals, except for a few “nutritional studies” dressed up as safety studies. Monsanto, for whom you appear to have great admiration, has cynically blocked truly independent research into the lifetime and multi-generational effects of GM feed. In that company’s obsession with “efficiency” health and safety issues have been shunted out into the long grass — and they have also worked tirelessly to vilify those honest scientists who have had the courage to point out that animals which consume GM crops (and the Roundup residues that come with them) are actually HARMED. 
patrons99 Comment left 21st February 2011 19:07:12
Our food supply is endangered by pharma and the GMO giants. Just as pumping millions of gallons of BP’s Corexit and artificial life forms into the Gulf may have lacked foresight, so too, does global vaccine “madness”. Vaccine epidemics may be not be amenable to control. They could easily endanger every living thing on the planet. “BP’s Corexit Increases Uptake of Endocrine Disruptors in Fish – What Will It Do to People?” by Kirk James Murphy, MD on May 24, 2010. Just look at the picture of the dead fish! Is there not an analogy here with vaccine epidemics? http://firedoglake.com/2010/05/24/bps-corexit-increases-uptake-of-endocrine-disruptors-in-fish-what-will-it-do-to-people/ 
BV Comment left 21st February 2011 18:06:23
Roundup Ready soybeans have been out for over 15 years and Roundup Ready corn for over 10, and this is the first we’re hearing of this? Give me a break. If it were as rampant a problem as this makes it out to be, we would have heard about it a LONG time ago. It is also unfair to accuse speculators and traders of hoarding grain. Look at the global demand right now. There was a big drought last year in parts of the world that are usually large wheat producers, and China continues to be a huge market for us. While nobody really LIKES Monsanto, they have been a frontrunner in making us the most efficient farmers in the world. I, for one, am VERY thankful for all the money they have put into research and development, which has in turn made farming much easier for guys like me. 
patrons99 Comment left 21st February 2011 19:07:15
O.K.! I can see why we might ought to be a tad bit concerned here. The organism has been linked with outbreaks of plant diseases and implicated in animal reproductive failure. What will the endocrine disruptors, phase transfer catalysts, ionophores, neurotoxic metals, VLP’s, and non-human antigens in the vaccine schedules do to people? If homeopathy is valid, and we are quantum coherent living organisms, would not all vaccines be unreasonably dangerous? 
Maggi Comment left 21st February 2011 22:10:04
I don’t even wonder. Sadly the bad things get attention only when it’s too late. 

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Sublingual B12 dramatically changes lives! Beyond B12 from Longevity Plus also contains three forms of folic acid so that the negative reports about cheap folic acid do not apply. Only when you are using the methylated forms of folic acid, as well as B12, can we overcome some of the methylation associated problems rampant in patients today.

This is due to epigenetic changes; thanks to the Bisphenol A found in everyone today many of us have impaired methylation pathways. I did a webinar that addressed some of these issues, as methylation is deeply involved in detoxification and memory loss as well. The webinar can be found on www.gordonresearch.com (Methylation Support, Toxins, and Memory Loss (1/25).

This article will help you appreciate the epidemic of borderline B12 deficiencies we see when we test with methylmalonic acid not serum B12, which is a waste of time and money.

Please read this and help your patients to a fuller happier and healthier life. Help meet their B12 needs! B12 has cured asthma in children and treated bursitis and it was heavily studied in mainstream literature just 50 years ago before all the drug companies came up with a drug for anything that seems wrong with every patient while carefully ignoring the causes of impaired health.

Garry F. Gordon MD,DO,MD(H)
President, Gordon Research Institute
www.gordonresearch.com

Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703396604576087890340653656.html?mod=djemHL_t

Excerpt:

Tired? Depressed? Forgetting things? Who isn’t these days? 

Those are also symptoms of a deficiency of B12, a key nutrient needed to make red blood cells and DNA and keep the nervous system working right. 

Vitamin B12 deficiency is officially considered rare, affecting about 1 in 1,000 Americans, according to a 2005 study. But the incidence rises with age, to about 15% of elderly people. The rate is also much higher among people who don’t eat meat or dairy products, people with absorption problems, people taking acid-blocking medications and those with Type 2 diabetes who take the drug Metformin. 

“B12 deficiency is much more common than the textbooks and journal articles say it is,” says Alan Pocinki, an internist in Washington D.C., who routinely tests his patients who fall into those categories. He also notes that since the Metformin connection was discovered only recently, some physicians aren’t aware of it. “They assume that if patients complain of numbness and tingling in the feet, it’s a diabetes issue and not a B12 issue.”

Other symptoms of low B12 include anemia, depression, dementia, confusion, loss of appetite and balance problems. Long-term deficiency can bring severe anemia, nerve damage and neurological changes that may be irreversible. 

Sometimes the symptoms are subtle. Internist Linda Assatourians, one of Dr. Pocinki’s partners, says that a surprising number of her young female patients also have low levels of B12. Typically they are healthy and active, but they don’t eat much meat and they have minor mood, memory or balance problems. “When I supplement their B12, they feel better,” Dr. Assatourians says. “It’s not a controlled study, but I see a lot of them.” 
“I was sort of tired, but I thought, ‘It’s winter and I’m doing too much,’ ” says Jessica Riester, 27, editor of publications for a German-American think tank. Her B12 level was slightly over 200 picograms per milliliter (the normal range is considered 200 to 800 pg per ml). After several weeks of B12 injections, then 1,000 milligrams daily in pill form, her B12 is now over 600 pg per ml and she says she feels better. “My color is better and the shadows under my eyes are gone,” she says. 

Link: http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=21305487&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks

Excerpt:

Background: A subgroup of patients suffering from Lyme disease (LD) may
initially respond to antibiotics only to later develop a syndrome of fatigue,
joint pain and cognitive dysfunction referred to as ‘post treatment LD
syndrome’. We report on a series of patients who developed autonomic dysfunction
in the form of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). Methods: All of
the patients in this report had suffered from LD in the past and were
successfully treated with antibiotics. All patients were apparently well, until
years later when they presented with fatigue, cognitive dysfunction and
orthostatic intolerance. These patients were diagnosed with POTS on the basis of
clinical features and results of the tilt table (HUTT) testing. Results: Five
patients (all women), aged 22-44 years, were identified for inclusion in this
study. These patients developed symptoms of fatigue, cognitive dysfunction,
orthostatic palpitations and either near syncope or frank syncope. The
debilitating nature of these symptoms had resulted in lost of the employment or
inability to attend school. Three patients were also suffering from migraine,
two from anxiety and depression and one from hypertension. All patients
demonstrated a good response to the employed treatment. Four of the five were
able to engage in their activities of daily living and either resumed employment
or returned to school. Conclusions: In an appropriate clinical setting,
evaluation for POTS in patients suffering from post LD syndrome may lead to
early recognition and treatment, with subsequent improvement in symptoms of
orthostatic intolerance. (Cardiol J 2011; 18, 1: 63-66).

Link: http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=21305774&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks

Excerpt:

Borrelia burgdorferi is the causative agent of Lyme Borreliosis, an infectious
multisystemic disease transmitted to humans by the Ixodes ticks bite. A possible
association of Borrelia burgdorferi with localized scleroderma has been
postulated. However, published data do not provide unequivocal results. Previous
serologic analysis of patients with localized scleroderma in South American
countries (including Venezuela), have been reported as yielding some reactivity.
The present study looked for evidence of Borrelia burgdorferi infection in
venezuelan patients with localized scleroderma, using the polymerase chain
reaction to analyze 21 skin samples of patients with this skin condition. The
results were negative in all the samples studied. Our data do not support an
association of Borrelia burgdorferi infection and the sclerotic lesions of
localized scleroderma; but do not rule out the possibility of a relationship
between localized scleroderma and an unknown geno-specie of Borrelia burgdorferi
sensu lato complex, a different Borrelia specie or a different spirochetal
organism, as the etiological agents of the skin lesions in this area.

Low plasma vitamin C levels are a risk factor for CV morbidity and mortality in chronic renal disease patients. Of course there are articles proving the same reduced mortality and morbidity from higher levels of plasma vitamin C in every condition, particularly Cancer. 

“Three prospective, large-scale, European studies confirmed a strong inverse relation between vitamin C plasma levels and all-cause or cardiovascular mortality in patients without kidney disease (3–5). The World Health Organization’s MONICA study reported a similar observation (6)”

Since plasma Vitamin C levels must be high if you want to have 100 mg levels of vitamin C in urine, you now can avoid the need for measuring plasma levels of vitamin C using convenient affordable urine Vitamin C testing. Now you can test several times during a patient’s follow up treatment to be sure they always are fully protected. 

I suggest that you make the VITACHEK C urine stick test a routine test for all patients in your office. It will enhance your effectiveness with any treatment you provide and also your income, as patients soon learn that the special vitamin C delivery system called BIOEN’R-G’Y C that you can provide them is the only way to easily keep their test strips yellow 24/7.  

Cancer patients spending money to get high levels of vitamin C in their blood with IV Vitamin C soon can appreciate the benefits of higher tissue levels for the rest of their life. 

The cost to you is twenty cents per test strip. Many patients will want to purchase 50 urine test strips for $10, so that they can test themselves several times a week under real life stress circumstances. Some will want to test their family members too if you show them research papers like the attached that proves higher levels of vitamin C are protective. 

Also, this simple test finds that about 14% of patients walking into doctor’s offices have such low levels of vitamin C that the test strip stays green and does not even start to turn toward yellow. Yet those that keep the urine test strip in the yellow 24/7 have the best outcome in most conditions. That is why we say it is a BRIGHT SPOT test and those that learn to keep their urine vitamin C levels high will have a BRIGHTER FUTURE.

Also this keeps them from switching over to cheap vitamin C products, as most will not be absorbed well enough to permit them to keep their urine vitamin C high enough to turn the test strip yellow, 

These benefits are proven to be significant as this research paper shows, but only when patients can see a result will they stay on something for lifetime that can easily add years to their life and life to those years.

Garry F. Gordon MD,DO,MD(H)
President, Gordon Research Institute
www.gordonresearch.com

Link: http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=21133691&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks

Excerpt:

Bartonella species, which belong to the alpha-2 subgroup of Proteobacteria,
are fastidious Gram-negative bacteria that are highly adapted to their
mammalian host reservoirs. Bartonella species are responsible for different
clinical conditions affecting humans, including Carrion’s disease, cat
scratch disease, trench fever, bacillary angiomatosis, endocarditis and
peliosis hepatis. While some of these diseases can resolve spontaneously
without treatment, in other cases, the disease is fatal without antibiotic
treatment. In this article, we discuss the antibiotic susceptibility
patterns of Bartonella species, detected using several methods. We also
provide an overview of Bartonella infection in humans and animals and
discuss the antibiotic treatment recommendations for the different
infections, treatment failure and the molecular mechanism of antibiotic
resistance in these bacteria.

Excerpt:

Nature.com

It’s time for animals – including humans – to admit that the bacteria, viruses and other microbes have won. Our bodies are home to many times more bacterial cells than animal cells and countless trillions of viruses. Ancient retroviruses make up a good size chunk of our genome. Now, scientists have discovered that most any virus can set up shop in an animal’s genomes and lay dormant for millions of years.

A scan of 44 mammal genomes, plus those of several mosquito and tick vectors and two birds that could serve as reservoirs, has uncovered DNA sequences that can be traced to 10 different families of viruses, including some related to viruses that cause hepatitis B, Ebola, rabies and dengue. Most of the viral sequences are riddled with enough mutations to be considered junk, but some appear to encoding working genes co-opted by their host. The work is published online today in the journal PLoS Genetics.

It’s not obvious how all these viruses got into animal genomes. The researchers, Aris Katzourakis at the University of Oxford, UK, and Robert Gifford at Rockefeller University in New York, searched specifically for viruses that aren’t retroviruses, which are obligated to copy their DNA into hosts. Many but not all of the viruses infect their hosts persistently or replicate inside of the nucleus, however, offering ample opportunity to take up residence in the genomes of germ cells.

The work is just a first look at all the non-retroviruses in the animal genome, but Katzourakis and Gifford turned up a few interesting findings. For instance, their scan identified sequences from filoviruses, the family Ebola belongs to, in the genomes of bats, tarsiers, several rodents, opossums and even wallabies. This hints that filoviruses have a much wider host range than the primate and bat species which these viruses are known to infect.

The paper also hints at unknown ancient transmissions of viruses between hosts. The bottlenose dolphin genome, it turns out, is home to sequences of a kind of parvovirus similar to one found in birds, suggesting that the viruses may have jumped between mammals and birds in the past.

Most of these sequences are junk, so filled with mutations that they can’t make working proteins. But some of the viral sequences might do something inside their hosts. One example is a bornavirus gene called EBLN-1 that took up residence in ancient primate genomes some 50 million years ago and survives intact in many modern primates, including humans. A similar protein latches onto RNA in bornaviruses, so it might do the same in primates as part of a viral defence mechanism, Gifford speculates.

Like the ancient retroviruses locked inside animal genomes, these viruses offer a window into infections that occurred millions of years ago.

“People who are looking at the ecology of those diseases, they very much work in recent time and they have no assumptions that it’s an old system that might have evolved over billions of years,” says Gifford. “The data that we’re finding is really contradicting that and providing the first evidence that these are really old relationships between hosts and viruses, and I think it’s really critical to how we underestand them to get that context right.”

 

Comments

This is a key paper with major implications. Hundreds of viruses appear to have infiltrated the human genome. The important consequence of this is that the proteins
of today’s viruses resemble our own. Numerous BLASTs of translated viral DNA vs.the human proteome are shown at this site named Pandora’s
box for obvious reasons. Small contigous amino acid stretches of 5 or more amino acids within human proteins exactly match those in the current virome (Vatches = viral matches).
Upon infection these viral proteins are likely to seed havoc within the host’s protein networks, acting as dummy ligands, decoy receptors or by interactome interference. This has major implications for understanding how viruses contribute to disease and several examples are shown.For example it
would appear that such viral insertions,repeated over evolutionary time, are
responsible for the creation of gene families. HSV-1 and HSV-2 are homologous to many kinases,
and the cytomegalovirus to many chemokine receptors.

The viruses implicated as risk factors in Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease all express proteins that are homologous to hundreds
of susceptibity gene products in these diseases.This suggests that genes and risk factors act together, and that each may be a risk factor precisely because of such matches. In addition, given such homology at both the DNA and protein level, it is likely that some gene association studies, using blood samples, have been
indexing infection as well as identifying key susceptibility genes.

Link: http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.ppat.1001077

Excerpt:

Autoimmunity refers to an inappropriate immune response against self-components of the host that results in pathological conditions. Autoimmune diseases are characterized by an activation of autoreactive T and B cells, are associated in some cases with the production of pathogenic autoantibodies against self-molecules, culminating in inflammation and tissue damage. The reasons for the breakdown of tolerance mechanisms leading to autoimmunity are not clearly known. However, a combination of genetic, immunological, and environmental factors plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of autoimmunity