"All my exes have the VEXAS". Couldn't resist singing that... Reverse engineering at its finest. I bought into 23andMe shortly after it became available, When I received my "genetic report" I sent it in (paying $10 or so each time) to various crunchers of the data to find out more about "me". After the third magical algorithm analyzed my report, I realized this was a crock of sh!t. "You may get cancer" "You might have blonde hair" "You are a fast metabilizer of caffeine". What I think: genetics can tell you some obvious, unchangeable characterisitcs, but beyond that, it is just massive speculation.
Roberto Giraldo was one of Nature's gentlemen. We were not aware that Roberto had done studies in regard to the non-specificity of the HIV p24 protein. Unfortunately they are not revealed at the link provided. FYI below is what we published on p24 in 1993. Papers here. http://theperthgroup.com/SCIPAPERS/EPENatBioTech1993.pdf
These data were included in a presentation we made at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, Sydney, November 1992.
Regards,
Val
The p24/25 protein.
Detection of p24 is currently believed to be synonymous with HIV isolation and viraemia. However:
(a) Apart from a joint publication with Montagnier where they claim that the HIV p24 is unique, Gallo and his colleagues have repeatedly stated that the p24s of HTLV I and HIV immunologically cross react;13
(b) Genesca et al 14 conducted WB assays in 100 ELISA negative samples of healthy blood donors; 20 were found to have HIV bands which did not fulfil the then (1989) criteria used by the blood banks for a positive WB. These were considered as indeterminate WB, (WBI), with p24 being the predominant band, (70% of cases). Among the recipients of WBI blood, 36% were WBI 6 months after transfusion, but so were 42% of individuals who received WB negative samples. Both donors and recipients of blood remained healthy. They concluded that WBI patterns "are exceedingly common in randomly selected donors and recipients and such patterns do not correlate with the presence of HIV 1 or the transmission of HIV 1", "most such reactions represent false positive results";
(c) Antibodies to p24 have been detected in 1 out of 150 healthy individuals, 13% of randomly selected otherwise healthy patients with generalised warts, 24% of patients with cutaneous T cell lymphoma and prodrome and 41% of patients with multiple sclerosis;15
(d) 97% of sera from homosexuals with ITP and 94% of sera from homosexuals with lymphandenopathy or AIDS contain an antibody that reacts with a 25Kd membrane antigen found in platelets from healthy donors and AIDS patients, as well as a 25 Kd antigen found in green monkey kidney cells, human skin fibroblasts, and herpes simplex cultured in monkey kidney cells. This reaction was absent in sera obtained from non homosexual patients with ITP or non immune thrombocytopenic purpura;11
(e) Conversely, the p24 antigen is not found in all HIV positive or even AIDS patients. In one study, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and p24 were used to detect HIV in patients at various CDC stages from asymptomatic to AIDS. p24 was detected in 24% patients and HIV RNA in 50%;16
(f) In another study, "In half of the cases in which a subject had a positive p24 test, the subject later had a negative test without taking any medications that would be expected to affect p24 antigen levels...the test is clinically erratic and should be interpreted very cautiously".17
Since we published these papers further data show that p24 itself appears (and disappears) following organ transplantation in HIV negative individuals.
Vincent, F., L. Belec, et al. (1993). "False-positive neutralizable HIV antigens detected in organ transplant recipients." AIDS 7: 741-742.
Agbalika, F., F. Ferchal, et al. (1992). "False-positive HIV antigens related to emergence of a 25-30kD proteins detected in organ recipients." AIDS 6: 959-962.
"All my exes have the VEXAS". Couldn't resist singing that... Reverse engineering at its finest. I bought into 23andMe shortly after it became available, When I received my "genetic report" I sent it in (paying $10 or so each time) to various crunchers of the data to find out more about "me". After the third magical algorithm analyzed my report, I realized this was a crock of sh!t. "You may get cancer" "You might have blonde hair" "You are a fast metabilizer of caffeine". What I think: genetics can tell you some obvious, unchangeable characterisitcs, but beyond that, it is just massive speculation.
Agreed. They collect data and give people unsubstantiated stories.
Excellent info. New syndrome/disease, same old playbook to 'discover' it.
Thanks Rocky! Spot on summary. 🙂
Hi Mike,
Roberto Giraldo was one of Nature's gentlemen. We were not aware that Roberto had done studies in regard to the non-specificity of the HIV p24 protein. Unfortunately they are not revealed at the link provided. FYI below is what we published on p24 in 1993. Papers here. http://theperthgroup.com/SCIPAPERS/EPENatBioTech1993.pdf
http://theperthgroup.com/SCIPAPERS/EPEGalloProveRoleHIVEmergMedOCR1993.pdf
These data were included in a presentation we made at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, Sydney, November 1992.
Regards,
Val
The p24/25 protein.
Detection of p24 is currently believed to be synonymous with HIV isolation and viraemia. However:
(a) Apart from a joint publication with Montagnier where they claim that the HIV p24 is unique, Gallo and his colleagues have repeatedly stated that the p24s of HTLV I and HIV immunologically cross react;13
(b) Genesca et al 14 conducted WB assays in 100 ELISA negative samples of healthy blood donors; 20 were found to have HIV bands which did not fulfil the then (1989) criteria used by the blood banks for a positive WB. These were considered as indeterminate WB, (WBI), with p24 being the predominant band, (70% of cases). Among the recipients of WBI blood, 36% were WBI 6 months after transfusion, but so were 42% of individuals who received WB negative samples. Both donors and recipients of blood remained healthy. They concluded that WBI patterns "are exceedingly common in randomly selected donors and recipients and such patterns do not correlate with the presence of HIV 1 or the transmission of HIV 1", "most such reactions represent false positive results";
(c) Antibodies to p24 have been detected in 1 out of 150 healthy individuals, 13% of randomly selected otherwise healthy patients with generalised warts, 24% of patients with cutaneous T cell lymphoma and prodrome and 41% of patients with multiple sclerosis;15
(d) 97% of sera from homosexuals with ITP and 94% of sera from homosexuals with lymphandenopathy or AIDS contain an antibody that reacts with a 25Kd membrane antigen found in platelets from healthy donors and AIDS patients, as well as a 25 Kd antigen found in green monkey kidney cells, human skin fibroblasts, and herpes simplex cultured in monkey kidney cells. This reaction was absent in sera obtained from non homosexual patients with ITP or non immune thrombocytopenic purpura;11
(e) Conversely, the p24 antigen is not found in all HIV positive or even AIDS patients. In one study, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and p24 were used to detect HIV in patients at various CDC stages from asymptomatic to AIDS. p24 was detected in 24% patients and HIV RNA in 50%;16
(f) In another study, "In half of the cases in which a subject had a positive p24 test, the subject later had a negative test without taking any medications that would be expected to affect p24 antigen levels...the test is clinically erratic and should be interpreted very cautiously".17
Since we published these papers further data show that p24 itself appears (and disappears) following organ transplantation in HIV negative individuals.
Vincent, F., L. Belec, et al. (1993). "False-positive neutralizable HIV antigens detected in organ transplant recipients." AIDS 7: 741-742.
Agbalika, F., F. Ferchal, et al. (1992). "False-positive HIV antigens related to emergence of a 25-30kD proteins detected in organ recipients." AIDS 6: 959-962.
Sounds like a coincidence to me! https://thenewamerican.com/coincidence-theory/