Mendoza, Ramon, Vaughan, Andrew E, Miller, A Dusty · Journal of virology · 2011 · DOI
Scientists searched for where XMRV (a virus once suspected in ME/CFS) might have originally come from by looking in mouse cells. They found a piece of XMRV in mouse DNA but not a complete virus. This discovery suggests XMRV has mouse origins and warns that lab contamination from mouse cells could create false positive results when testing for this virus.
This study addresses a critical problem in XMRV research by identifying potential laboratory contamination sources, which is essential for validating earlier ME/CFS studies that reported XMRV detection. Understanding whether XMRV signals in patient samples are genuine or arise from mouse cell contamination is fundamental to determining whether this virus plays any role in ME/CFS pathogenesis.
This study does not prove XMRV causes ME/CFS or that previous patient studies were contaminated—only that contamination is technically possible from mouse cell sources. It does not establish whether XMRV is actually present in ME/CFS patients or whether any detected virus is functional. The findings are mechanistic and do not resolve the clinical significance of XMRV associations.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Mendoza, Ramon, Vaughan, Andrew E, & Miller, A Dusty (2011). The left half of the XMRV retrovirus is present in an endogenous retrovirus of NIH/3T3 Swiss mouse cells.. Journal of virology. https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.05137-11
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-mendoza-2011-left-half,
author = {Mendoza, Ramon and Vaughan, Andrew E and Miller, A Dusty},
title = {The left half of the XMRV retrovirus is present in an endogenous retrovirus of NIH/3T3 Swiss mouse cells.},
journal = {Journal of virology},
year = {2011},
doi = {10.1128/JVI.05137-11},
note = {PubMed: 21697491},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/mendoza-2011-left-half},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/mendoza-2011-left-half
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