MicrobeWorld

Some of the proteins that make up the XMRV virus closely ressemble human proteins that are involved in mitochondrial respiration and energy generation and they are also similar to proteins involved in prostate cancer.The viral proteins are immunogenic, and antibodies against the virus will also target the similar human proteins. Even if the immune system deals with and eliminates the virus, these antibodies will continue meeting the human proteins, sustaining an autoimmune response that keeps on targeting the energy and cancer related areas. This may explain the controversy over the presence and absence of XMRV in different studies. The virus doesn't need to be there, it just needs to have been there.