Human cytomegalovirus infection in tumor cells of the nervous system is not detectable with standardized pathologico-virological diagnostics This is a hot topic in neuro-oncology now. The current issue of the Journal of Neurooncology has this article, as well as an editorial about it and a letter in response from Dr Cobbs - who first announced that CMV is present in most GBMs. This article says there is no CMV in brain tumor samples. The editorial says it is a controversy and they are leaning towards CMV not being associated with GBMs. The letter from Dr Cobbs explains how they found the CMV and showed that the methods used in this article did not have a chance of finding the CMV. I tend to think Dr Cobbs is correct and he found a method that can find the CMV. Researchers at Duke were able to confirm the presence of CMV in most or all GBM samples. Other labs were also not able to detect it. What is needed is a standardized test where any lab can do it with the same results. Until that happens, the controversy remains.
This is a very important topic because IF CMV is associated with most GBMs, it presents a target to be used to fight GBMs.
