Dr. Michael Snyderman's MD Anderson Poster

Dr. Michael Snyderman, an ME/CFS patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), began a trial of two HIV drugs shown to have efficacy in treating XMRV in test tube studies.   Here's the poster presentation that Snyderman, who's an oncologist, is presenting at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, at 7 p.m. this evening.  Snyderman concludes on the poster:

"A patient with CFS and CLL with adverse prognostic factors was shown to have XMRV in plasma and CLL cells. Within the first 100 days of treatment with AZT and raltegravir, he showed multiple benefits simultaneous with disappearance of infectious XMRV.  These findings suggest that XMRV is etiological for both the CLL and CFS and that virus-direct treatment was beneficial in this patient.  Further CLL patients should be studied especially as CLL has been statistically associated with an increased risk for other neoplasia. Questions to be answered are what neoplasms are associated with XMRV, will existing antiretrovirals have antineoplasticactivity in these neoplasms and what is the optimal combination of antiretroviral drugs."

Snyderman continues to have more energy on the drug cocktail. However, the doctor's trisomy 12 marker--which is elevated in 25 percent of patients with CLL--initially dipped significantly on the drugs, but has begun to rise again. 

MONKEY BUSINESS

Joe Landson emailed CFS Central three macaque cartoons that he's sent to government officials, as part of the “Time for Action” campaign.  On October 4, patients Rivka Solomon, Charlotte von Salis and Robert Miller launched the campaign to get the government's attention concerning ME/CFS.

"Should the CDC ever be inundated by banana peels, I categorically disavow all knowledge," Landson wrote to CFS Central.  Last week, Landson posted this comment on this blog:

"Right, so I've started faxing cartoons, annotated with the suggested messages, to Dirs. Collins and Fauci. Every day, it's another observation about ME/CFS, told by a rhesus macaque I draw myself. (All else is computerized.) Why the macaque? Because macaques have arguably done more to advance CFS research than senior NIH officials have."  Landson is referring to the study done by researchers at Emory University’s primate lab who injected XMRV into macaques and reported that even when the retrovirus was undetectable in the blood, it thrived in the reproductive organs as well as the spleen, gut, bladder, lung, liver and lymph nodes. 
 
Macaque 1, Macaque 2, Macaque 3.

Dr. Michael Snyderman at MD Anderson

Oncologist Michael Snyderman will present his latest poster on his one-man trial to treat ME/CFS and chronic lymphocytic leukemia with HIV meds at 7 p.m., October 13 at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.  Snyderman, who is XMRV positive, has both ME/CFS and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), which is relatively common in ME/CFS patients.  About 5 percent of ME/CFS patients get it, compared with .02 percent in the general population.  Snyderman's taking AZT and raltegravir, two HIV drugs with efficacy against XMRV in test tube studies.

Snyderman continues to feel significantly more energetic than he was prior to initiating antiretroviral therapy.  His elevated cytokine signature, particularly interleukin 8, improved on the cocktail and his XMRV viral load dropped. His CLL cells expressed XMRV. Snyderman, however, is concerned that attending the poster presentation may be discouraging for some patients because of the recent upturn in a CLL marker called trisomy 12, which is elevated in 25 percent of patients with CLL.  Initially on the drugs, this marker plummeted.