Research news from Bhupesh Prusty

I think it's a positive sign he's not throwing out findings on twitter anymore, looking to find funding from institutional sources and testing against similar illnesses. As for his reasearch, I don't know enough to say if it excites me or not.

 

The virus reactivation I'm skeptical of, but the first publish then discuss approach seems to me to be the right one.

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1341105621635125251



I would be interested to know the duration (in years) of illness from these 100 subjects. My immune system has evolved over the years.

 

It may depend on what is meant by viral reactivation. Full-blown bursting-out-of-cells so the bloodstream can carry it all over? Very likely not. But before viruses can do they must first replicate within cells. In the acute phase, the replication is probably happening without enough defenses to control it and so it reaches that critical intracellular threshold that tells it it's time to attack. Here it may be doing that but with defenses in place, kept in check but at a cost to the organism, a controlled stalemate which can cause symptoms depending on where it is happening. It does not reach that critical level that triggers the signal to burst out and go hog-wild into neighboring cells, but virions are not stable, they won't stay intact indefinitely. If a virus is latent, it must have some ability to replicate minimally, ideally on its way to reach critical mass, but unable because intracellular defenses are able to keep in check.

We know viruses can live for years within cells. They must have that ability to slowly replicate, likely itself an adaptation to avoid triggering the immune system.

 

I'm not sure if this is the right place but it's related.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1342095830333992961

 

Can i feel concerned about this tweet?

 

@Jonathan Edwards

Aren't these antibodies found in normal individuals too? Is there a genetic factor?

I remember when I was thrilled to find out that my lymphocyte immune markers were 'abnormal', only to discover that abnormalities are genetically controlled.

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ad/2012/189096/

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1343572217880326145

 

Maybe Viking HLA genes are different??

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1362360855233499138


https://twitter.com/user/status/1362360856491806722

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1362572697968992256


"The first grant that came our way last week is funded by ME Research UK. I am so excited to get this support from Scotland. Scotland always remains in my heart. Beautiful place and lovely people. Was planning to go back in 2020 but couldn’t happen. Hope for next year."

 

Google translation, https://translate.google.com/transl...long-covid-auf-der-suche-nach-den-ausloesern/, from this original link, https://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/aktuel...long-covid-auf-der-suche-nach-den-ausloesern/

"Lots of money from two foundations

Whether this is actually the case: Prusty will be able to research it with particular vigor in the years to come. Two foundations provide him with a lot of money: Prusty receives a total of 900,000 US dollars - the equivalent of around 750,000 euros - from the Amar Foundation. The US charity is funding Prusty's work on SARS-CoV-2, the origin of chronic fatigue syndrome and mitochondrial dysfunction in ME / CFS.

A British foundation is supporting Prusty's work in the same area with around £ 200,000 - the equivalent of a little over 240,000 euros: ME Research UK, an organization that aims to “provide high quality scientific research into causes, consequences and treatment commission and finance myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome ”."

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1375923975948279810

https://twitter.com/user/status/1375923977466568715

 

Here's an older paper from 2012 where a peptide was being tested to try and prevent mitochondrial fission and inhibit Drp1. --not related to ME, but to other illnesses, like Parkinson's :https://jcs.biologists.org/content/126/3/789#sec-2

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1408018330112385025

 

Can the German members perhaps give some information please. Which Uniklinik--there are many all over Germany. And what nature of 'care' is being offered. Thanks in advance

 

He works in Würzburg, so it will be this clinic: https://www.ukw.de/startseite/

More isn´t known at this point: https://twitter.com/user/status/1408034032517013509

 

I had a look at the Würzburg clinic website. There's a lot about cancer patients and the fatigue they have, and also a lot about palliative care. In the absence of further information and speculating optimistically, hopefully they are referring to palliative care.

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1433868748537143297

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1591062181675761664