I am going to refrain from any comment on the XMRV study results announced today until I have had a chance to read the paper, listen to the press conference, and think about the whole thing for a few hours. In the mean time, here are some related materials:
- Two European news outlets broke the embargo by more than three hours with disappointingly simplistic summaries (at least one article was subsequently withdrawn)
- The Lipkin study results published in mBio today
- The link for the Lipkin press conference at 10:30 am Eastern
- The link to the This Week in Virology podcast interview with Dr. Lipkin (updated at 12:07 pm to add link)
- Press release from Dr. Lipkin’s Center for Infection and Immunity (pdf)
- The CFIDS Association summary of the paper (updated at 9:42 am to add link)
- Statement from the ME Association asking for an apology to patients
- My post on the history of the Lipkin study
About the question (discussed in your post from March) about whether the samples collected will be used for other research studies, this was posted on Facebook today by Simmaron Research:
“Dr. Ian Lipkin, who led the XMRV study, looked to the future in this morning’s press conference, noting that attention is now on this syndrome. He said the samples collected were highly characterized and are “an extraordinary resource” for future study.”
Do we know any more about these samples now? Are they available for future study? Are studies using those samples being planned or carried out already?
(I posted a question in the FB post, no answer as of yet.)
According to Dr. Lipkin this morning, the samples are available for qualified investigators to apply to use them. He said two investigators were already doing so, but provided no further information.
That’s hopeful! Thank you for your post and for the clarification!