Detection of Viral Proteins in Human Cells Lines by Xeno-Proteomics: Elimination of the Last Valid Excuse for Not Testing Every Cellular Proteome Dataset for Viral Proteins

Chernobrovkin, Alexey L.; Zubarev, Roman A.

Viral infections can cause very significant consequences for biological research. In 2006, the telltale genetic signature of the virus XMRV has been detected in tissue samples taken from men with prostate cancer [14] . The initial work reporting a link between prostate cancer and XMRV infection has become highly cited, but most (although not all) subsequent studies have failed to confirm this association. Since the initial discovery, XMRV and MLV-related viral sequences resembling polytrophic MLVs (P-MLVs) have also been found in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) [15] . The original paper published in 2006 has been retracted in December 2011 [14] . Recent re-evaluation of the original cohort/samples as well as the new ones showed that the association of XMRV with prostate cancer arose from laboratory contamination of clinical samples by an XMRVinfected LNCaP cell line [16] .