Journal of IiME Volume 5 Issue 1 (May 2011) PRESENTERS at the 6th INVEST in ME INTERNATIONAL ME/CFS CONFERENCE Abstract Purinergic signalling and CNS disorders The talk will open with some background information about purinergic signalling, including: its discovery in the early 1970‟s; the recognition that ATP is a cotransmitter with established neurotransmitters in most nerves in both the peripheral and central nervous systems; the cloning and characterisation of 3 subclasses of receptors for purines and pyrimidines; the widespread distribution of these receptors on non-neuronal cells as well as nerves; and the physiological release of ATP from cells in response to gentle mechanical stimulation and hypoxia. There will then be a description of the distribution of purinoreceptors in the CNS, the importance of purinergic neuron-glial interactions and their roles in normal behaviour. In the last part, studies of the roles of purinergic signalling in CNS disorders, including stroke, ischaemia, neurodegenerative diseases, epilepsy, cognitive, mood and neuropsychiatric disorders will be described and potential novel therapeutic strategies discussed. Dr. Judy Mikovits Dr Judy Mikovits is Research Director at the Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Diseases and has co-authored over 40 peer reviewed publications that address fundamental issues of viral pathogenesis, hematopoiesis and cytokine biology. Formally trained as a cell biologist, molecular biologist and virologist, Dr. Mikovits has studied the immune response to retroviruses and herpes viruses including HIV, SIV, HTLVI, HERV, HHV6 and HHV8 with a special emphasis on virus host cell interactions in cells of the hematopoietic system including hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). Dr Mikovits is one of the authors of the ground-breaking study published in Science magazine in October 2009 which detected XMRV in CFS patients (Detection of an infectious retrovirus, XMRV, in blood cells of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome) and is a member of the US Department of Health and Human Services Blood Working Group. Researchers at the University of Nevada Medical School have also become collaborators on projects that are vital to our understanding of the immune deficits seen in these patients. Abstract Clinical implications of XMRV and MLV-Related (MRV) Human Gamma Retrovirus infection. In 2009, using a classical virology approach of viral isolation and transmission, electron microscopy, serology and PCR, Lombardi et. al. demonstrated the first isolation of a Human Gamma retrovirus (HGRV): XMRV from blood from patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) predominately from the west coast of the United States. In 2010, Lo et al. extended these studies by detecting nucleic acids of MLV-related variants in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of CFS from the northeastern United States suggesting additional strains capable of infecting humans exist. We have identified several footprints of HGRV infection that can also be used both as therapeutic targets and to monitor clinical trials of therapeutics. These footprints include clonal TCR gamma rearrangements, B cell populations having a mature CD20+, CD23+ phenotype, which have been shown by our lab and others to harbor XMRV proviral DNA and produce infectious HGRVs. Therefore, XMRV infection may accelerate the development of B cell malignancies by either indirect chronic stimulation of the immune system and/or by direct Continued page 56 Invest in ME (Charity Nr. 1114035) www.investinme.org Page 55/58
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