HHV-6 Mediated Mitochondrial Modulation and Its Association to ME/CFS

Project description

Bhupesh Prusty (PhD), a molecular virologist at the University of Wuerberg, designed his Ramsay project to explore the hypothesis that mitochondrial dysfunction in ME/CFS has a pathogenic connection. He focused on HHV-6 (a herpesvirus that has been implicated in chronic conditions) based on his previous findings of HHV-6 activation and changes to mitochondria. Dr. Prusty and his collaborators honed an experimental system to study early stages of viral reactivation. Their work also points to a mechanism that accounts for how, even with a low number of copies of the virus in the blood, HHV-6-infected cells might still impact energy production in adjacent or distant cells through factors secreted in the blood plasma of ME/CFS patients.

(Description adapted from project website: see link above)