XMRV Testing in the UK & Europe

Tests currently offered at RED Laboratories:

• Co-culture
• Serology
• Detection of MLV-related viruses by PCR and sequencing

Co-culture is very sensitive and most importantly, is the only test that can distinguish active infections from latent ones. One limitation is the fact that it is performed from blood cells, it may therefore not be able to detect a virus which is present in another part of the body.

Although it is likely that most virus variants are able to infect this target cell line, this has not yet been demonstrated; therefore there is a possibility that certain viruses (like MLVs) can not be detected by this technique.