Autism and retroviruses...

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In the first place my ideas on methylation were originally learnt from Jill James who does fantastic work on why Mercury in vaccines causes hypomethylation and nerve degeneration etc.
Abnormal transmethylation/transsulfuration metabolism and DNA hypomethylation among parents of children with autism

Thimerosal neurotoxicity is associated with glutathione depletion: protection with glutathione precursors

Which is why a test of hers to measure Methylation gets a mention in my innovation patent.
HERV and METHYLATION ACTIVITY RATIO TEST
....free to any good home.

The XMRV retrovirus turns up in epithelial cells which are cells that help to hold our inner organs in place.

XMRV is present in malignant prostatic epithelium and is associated with prostate cancer, especially high-grade tumors. Or in chronic fatigue patients who often have Fibromyalgia which is pain in muscles and connective tissue.

The human retrovirus XMRV in prostate cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome

So if connective tissue is being degraded what happens to the epithelial cells?

"Epithelium is a tissue composed of cells that line the cavities and surfaces of structures throughout the body. Many glands are also formed from epithelial tissue. It lies on top of connective tissue, and the two layers are separated by a basement membrane."

Because in Autism there are gut pathologies, in that the gut often has lesions and the gut has Epithelial cells which absorb nutrients.

"Absorption: Certain epithelial cells lining the small intestine absorb nutrients from the digestion of food."

"A primary intestinal lesion may occur as part of the broad spectrum of immunological disorders to which autistic children are prone. This could result in increased intestinal permeability to peptides of dietary origin which may then lead to disruption of neuroregulatory mechanisms required for normal brain development."

The intestinal lesion of autistic spectrum disorder

"Recent research has uncovered pathology in the gastrointestinal tract of autistic children. The pathology, reported to extend from the esophagus to the colon, is described here along with other studies pointing to a connection between diet and the severity of symptoms expressed in autism. The evidence that there is impaired intestinal permeability in autism is reviewed, and various theories are discussed by which a leaky gut could develop. Lastly, some possible ways in which impaired gastrointestinal function might influence brain function are discussed."

Intestinal Pathophysiology in Autism

Well if there are holes in the lining of the gut then there will be retroviruses present because the cell walls are crumbling and they are coming out. The XMRV retrovirus is more likely to be a side effect of cell damage.

The way I've started thinking about why retroviruses appear in certain cells is this: Upon cell death caused by DNA Hypomethylation, retroviruses come out and dismantle the dying cells. As there is an interplay normally between retroviruses and apoptotic dying cells when lab scientists expose healthy cells to retroviruses without the normal protections the cells take this as a signal to shut up shop. But the retroviruses also signal to cytokines which are growth hormones, to start regrowth. And retroviruses are also kicked into action by estrogen so why on earth would growth hormones make them transcribe? Because retroviruses are part and parcel of cell growth.

I'll use HERV-W as it's my favourite retrovirus as the example.

HERV-W is a retrovirus that appears at the interface of trophoblasts as they tunnel new arteries for the fetus to get blood supply. It appears with demethylation of placental tissue and then disappears with methylation.

If it's not working the blood supply doesn't get to the fetus and it doesn't happen.

"Development of placentation and successful pregnancy depend on co-ordinated interactions between the maternal decidua and myometrium, and the invasive properties of the fetal trophoblast. Syncytin, a protein encoded by the envelope gene of a recently identified human endogenous defective retrovirus, HERV-W, is highly expressed in placental tissue. Previously, we have shown that the major site of syncytin expression is the placental syncytiotrophoblast, a fused multinuclear syncytium originating from cytotrophoblast cells. Here we present the first evidence that in pre-eclampsia, syncytin gene expression levels are dramatically reduced."

Downregulation of Placental Syncytin Expression and Abnormal Protein Localization in Pre-eclampsia

Which is why antiretroviral AIDS drugs cause Preeclampsia.

Increased risk of pre-eclampsia and fetal death in HIV-infected pregnant women receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy

So women who are HIV positive and don't take drugs are likely to be healthier....
Someone out there is asking this question..

"There is uncertainty as to whether HIV lowers the rate of pre-eclampsia"

Is pre-eclampsia less common in patients with HIV/AIDS?

Therefore HERV-W is needed for fetal growth. But in Multiple Sclerosis it gets blamed for causing cytokines to gather and kill brain and nerve cells.

Brains and peripheral blood mononuclear cells of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients hyperexpress MS-associated retrovirus/HERV-W endogenous retrovirus, but not Human herpesvirus 6

Correlation between disease severity and in vitro cytokine production mediated by MSRV (Multiple Sclerosis associated RetroViral element) envelope protein in patients with multiple sclerosis

But HERV-W also signals a cytokine called Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor which is needed for new cell growth....

"BDNF promoter reporter gene assays showed that the HERV-W env triggers BDNF"

Implication of the env Gene of the Human Endogenous Retrovirus W Family in the Expression of BDNF and DRD3 and Development of Recent-Onset Schizophrenia

"Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) promotes neuronal survival and protection against neuronal damage."

And also appears in the placenta...

Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Promotes Implantation and Subsequent Placental Development by Stimulating Trophoblast Cell Growth and Survival

So which comes first? The retroviruses or the cytokines which encourage growth. I don't have a lab and I wonder who's checking?

So in the case of autism do you now think XMRV is the cause or just an effect of epithelial cells getting damaged?

What can cause the damage?

Well I blame metals, mercury, cadmium and lead which are the usual culprits as they knock holes in our cell walls and then cells die and retroviruses come out.

The role of mercury and cadmium heavy metals in vascular disease, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and myocardial infarction

Cadmium and mercury toxicity in a human fetal hepatic cell line

And Iron is the other metal since there are gut pathologies, too much Iron is the main cause of infections in people.

"Iron is an oxidant as well as a nutrient for invading microbial and neoplastic cells. Excessive iron in specific tissues and cells (iron loading) promotes development of infection, neoplasia, cardiomyopathy, arthropathy, and various endocrine and possibly neurodegenerative disorders. To contain and detoxify the metal, hosts have evolved an iron withholding defense system, but the system can be compromised by numerous factors."

Iron Loading and Disease Surveillance

Which is also why someone said this.....

"Autism is a profoundly and poorly understood developmental disorder that impairs a person's social and communication abilities. I propose a hypothesis that the excessive dietary iron consumed by today's infants is the root cause of increased cases of Autism, allergies and other childhood diseases. Iron is a powerful immune system modulator. Excess iron causes hyperactive immune system. This hyperactive immune system attacks undigested food peptides. The chemicals released during these intense allergic reactions can damage surrounding tissue. Neurodegeneration is caused by combination of, oxidative stress induced by free iron radicals and intense immune reactions."

Excess dietary iron is the root cause for increase in childhood autism and allergies

What can cause the Iron to accumulate?

There are two factors I see, one is a missing methylation gene which brings us back to Jill James and her studies.

I'll thank Fred Greenwood for educating me on the issue this year, he's a 70 year old HIV+ who is missing the MTHFR1 gene which is needed to process folic acid. He tells me that the forms of Folic acid we take are unmethylated and possibly dangerous in that they can accelerate cancer growth. The gene is apparently missing in up to 20% of caucasians. And there's another called MTHFD1 which if not working means there's too much hypomethylation going on due to Folate and B12 loss.

An example of why proper methylation is needed in pregnancy...

A polymorphism in the MTHFD1 gene increases a mother's risk of having an unexplained second trimester pregnancy loss

So in the population of children without this gene any extra Iron can't be absorbed properly and it burns holes in the stomach and also causes the infections.

"New evidence suggests that autism may be associated with (a) varied behavioral responses to folate therapy and (b) metabolic anomalies, including those in folate metabolism, that contribute to hypomethylation of DNA."

The MTHFR 677C-->T polymorphism and behaviors in children with autism: exploratory genotype-phenotype correlations

Association of MTHFR Gene Variants with Autism

The other factor is gluten allergies. Gluten binds to people with HLA-DQ genes. When this happens they can react and the immune system then inflames gut tissue and the end result is malabsorption.

"Fifty-eight percent of the examined children with autism suffered from chronic diarrhea caused by malabsorption of carbohydrates."

UM DOCTORS FIND FIRST CLEAR LINK BETWEEN AUTISM AND GASTROINTESTINAL DISORDER

Diarrhea by the way when I see it indicates high Iron feeding bacteria and not enough copper being absorbed to make cerulosplasmin. Which is why we see this happen in autism.

"Lipid peroxidation was found to be elevated in autism indicating that oxidative stress is increased in this disease. Levels of major antioxidant proteins namely, transferrin (iron-binding protein) and ceruloplasmin (copper-binding protein) in the serum, were significantly reduced in autistic children as compared to their developmentally normal non-autistic siblings. A striking correlation was observed between reduced levels of these proteins and loss of previously acquired language skills in children with autism. These results indicate altered regulation of transferrin and ceruloplasmin in autistic children who lose acquired language skills. It is suggested that such changes may lead to abnormal iron and copper metabolism in autism, and that increased oxidative stress may have pathological role in autism."

Oxidative stress in autism: increased lipid peroxidation and reduced serum levels of ceruloplasmin and transferrin--the antioxidant proteins

Which I would fix by making sure Folic acid, B12, and B6 with copper are available in foods with enough Vitamin C. I use Chlorella for the Folic and B12 as it's such a highly methylated food but also because it supplies bioavailable Iron with magnesium and also removes Mercury, Lead and Cadmium.

B6 or Pyridoxine should be given as a supplement at night to enable methylation.

Cashews can stop diarrhea simply due to their copper content. Very useful.

Cod Liver Oil is already being used in autistic children, the reason it may help is due to both Vit A which is needed for neuronal cell differentiation and the Vitamin D content.

Vitamin A or Retinoic Acid though is a natural hypomethylating agent and encourages retroviruses so I see it as vital for proper retroviral functioning and cell growth.

I also think Sialic acid may be needed to encourage nerve growth, it's a thing I tell people to avoid in cancer as it encourages growth.

If Gluten sensitivity is the cause of nutritional deficiencies and gut inflammation Bromelain can be used as it breaks down Gluten and stops cytokines attacking the gut. Bromelain also a nuclease inhibitor and is therefore an antiviral and antiretroviral if you are worried about retroviruses.

I know there is a huge movement of well educated mothers of autistic children who are already working these things out. Blaming the XMRV virus I think just clouds the issue.

.....But the Attenuated Measles Virus from the vaccine is still a prime candidate for causing autism.

Attenuated viruses are only attenuated in highly methylated tissue, if you add them to tissue that is hypomethylated they will start expressing again. Which involves autistic children.

Metabolic biomarkers of increased oxidative stress and impaired methylation capacity in children with autism

....And even normal children are likely to have hypomethylating tissue because they still are growing, this is why fetuses have a heap of retroviruses and why mothers at the end of pregnancy express the highest levels of abzymes in people.
In post pregnancy a women is shutting down their retroviruses.

"Blood of healthy male and female volunteers lacked catalytically active antibodies, whereas antibodies from blood of pregnant women hydrolyzed DNA and RNA and their relative activity varied over a wide range. Relative blood abzyme activities significantly increased after delivery and at the beginning of lactation. The highest abzyme activity was observed in blood of parturient women. Although the dynamics of changes in antibody DNase activity during pregnancy was rather individual for each woman, there was a common trend in the increase in antibody activity in the first and/or third trimester of the pregnancy. The DNase activity of IgG and IgM from blood of healthy pregnant women was 4-5 times less than that from pregnant women with pronounced autoimmune thyroiditis."

Dynamics of Antibody Nuclease Activity in Blood of Women during Pregnancy and Lactation

So here is an example of attenuation in one type of cell and expression in another

"Baby hamster kidney cells (BHK), a well-characterized, easily maintained cell line, supported MVA growth and as proficient expression of the E. coli lacZ reporter gene as the highly efficient CEF, whereas other cell lines were non-permissive or allowed only very limited MVA replication. Importantly, no virus production occurred in patient-derived infected primary human cells."

Highly attenuated modified vaccinia virus Ankara replicates in baby hamster kidney cells, a potential host for virus propagation, but not in various human transformed and primary cells

Baby cells are hypomethylated so the virus replicates, normal adult kidney cells don't produce the virus.

Another example.

"Measles virus (MV) isolated in B95a cells, a marmoset B-cell line, retains full pathogenicity for cynomolgus monkeys, while its derivative obtained by adaptation to the growth in Vero cells, a monkey kidney cell line, loses the pathogenic potential. Here, we show with a pair of strains, a fresh isolate (9301B) in B95a cells and its Vero cell-adapted form (9301V), that the in vivo attenuation parallels the decrease of replication and syncytium-inducing capabilities in the original B95a cells and that these in vitro phenotypes are attributable to impediment of transcription, which is already obvious at the level of primary transcription catalyzed by the virion-associated RNA polymerase. On the other hand, cell fusion assays detected no functional difference between the glycoproteins of the two viruses."

Measles Virus Attenuation Associated with Transcriptional Impediment and a Few Amino Acid Changes in the Polymerase and Accessory Proteins

This is why measles and cytomegalovirus appear in infancy, I think it has more to do with reproduction than infections. And using B95a cells which are monkey lymphoblastoid cells is a way to use hypomethylated cells to grow a virus. Vero kidney cells have already grown and are methylated. The concept really should put a stop to all attenuated viral vaccines in children.

This is why they say things like this....

"The modes of transmission of Cytomegalovirus from person to person are not completely understood."

The cytomegalovirus comes out of our reproductive tissue.

So the attenuated measles will become wild type and cause immense internal damage to children with low methylation nutrients before any antibodies can be formed.

This is why you get these sorts of effects...

"Several of these studies that used high-dose (4.84 In TCID50) EZ measles vaccine found increased mortality predominantly or exclusively among African female infants immunized with high-dose EZ measles vaccine. In these cases, death occurred approximately one year after vaccination."

EDMONSTON-ZAGREB MEASLES VACCINE PROJECT

In African children the lack of methylation nutrients leaves them wide open to RNA from 'attenuated' measles dismantling and damaging internal organs. I suspect that in areas too with very low Selenium soil levels will allow virus replication to go unchecked in people who don't get Selenium in their diet.

What they are in effect doing is giving measles to children to create antibodies. It would make far more sense to give children adequate Methylation nutrients to stop measles from causing damage anyway. As in children with proper methylation will not get the same symptoms.

This is why there will always be measles outbreaks whether vaccinated or not. You know the usual propaganda....

"The cause of a measles outbreak sweeping South Africa has not as yet been determined, but initial suspicions point to religious objections and unfounded fears that immunizations against the disease increase the risk of autism in children."

SOUTH AFRICA: Measles outbreak spreading

What I believe is that measles affects endothelial cells as normally happens and the symptoms of wild type infection can be seen externally. With the use of vaccine-delivered attenuated measles it infects epithelial cells internally and causes damage before antibodies are produced and it becomes inactivated. But they don't see these symptoms and so declare they've stopped an epidemic.

Of course I'm a tad more radical and suspect these viruses appear during pregnancy... hence the unknown source of cytomegalovirus and the mother's milk normally passes on abzymes to the infants which then provides a way of nicking and stopping any viral replication continuing in the child.

My thoughts.

"The Empire apple crumbles"
StarSludge