LONGECITY

Virus Linked to High Blood Pressure

By Clara Moskowitz, LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 2009-05-14 8:01 p.m. ET

A common virus might be a major cause of high blood pressure, a new study found.

Researchers discovered that cytomegalovirus (CMV), an infection affecting between 60 and 99 percent of adults worldwide, can cause high blood pressure. The study was conducted with mice, but researchers think the link also applies to humans.

"It's estimated that a third of the American population does have high blood pressure," said study leader Clyde Crumpacker, a researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and professor at Harvard Medical School. "In 90 percent of those cases the cause is unclear. There is the possibility that this common viral infection might be a significant cause."

Crumpacker and team found that mice infected with CMV developed higher blood pressure than uninfected mice. What's more, when CMV-infected mice were fed high-cholesterol diets, they had the highest blood pressures of all.

High cholesterol diets and obesity are known to influence high blood pressure, but this is the first time that CMV infection is also implicated. The discovery could lead to better treatments.

"Here is the possibility that maybe high blood pressure could be prevented or treated by antiviral therapies or a vaccine," Crumpacker told LiveScience. "That could have major public health advantages for the American people."

The finding also fits into a larger pattern of research revealing links between common viruses or bacterial infections and major health problems. For example:

•The discovery that human papillomavirus (HPV) causes cervical cancer was a major breakthrough in the 1970s. Now a vaccine against the virus is seen as a significant advance in preventing the disease.
•Ulcers, once thought to be caused by stress, were recently discovered to be the result of Helicobacter pylori bacteria. The National Institutes of Health estimates that more than 90 percent of all cases of gastritis and ulcers are caused by this infection.
•The human adenovirus 36 (AD-36) was recently found to contribute to obesity by encouraging fat cells to replicate.
•The Coxsackie B4 virus is linked to the development of childhood Type 1 diabetes.
"It's likely that we're going to continue to find more and more links like this," Crumpacker said.

As with many of these connections, the virus associated with high blood pressure is probably a contributing factor, instead of the sole cause, of the disease. Diet and genetic predisposition are also known to be factors influencing high blood pressure (also called hypertension).

"It does sound reasonable, but it could only be one of many factors involved in hypertension," said Sylvia Smoller, a professor of epidemiology and population health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New York. She also cautioned that the results will need to be confirmed in humans, not just in mice.

The researchers think the connection applies to humans because they also conducted trials with human cell cultures. They found that when the cells were infected with CMV, they created a protein called renin that is known to contribute to high blood pressure.

Many people have CMV without knowing it. The virus is transmitted through sharing of bodily fluids, and can be passed on from a pregnant woman to her baby. Often it exists latent in the body without any symptoms, but if an infected person's immune system is compromised, it can cause problems, such as blockage of arteries in cardiac transplant patients.


http://www.livescien...d-pressure.html

Can a person be tested for this virus, and is it possible to kill it?

Click HERE to rent this MEDICINES advertising spot to support LongeCity (this will replace the google ad above).

Biknut:

I think, this is a really important topic that does not get enough discussion on these forums. Most life extentionists should really be focused on this issue, and it doesn't seem like they pay much credence to it.

- I think a lot of viruses in the body lead to cancer (HPV, EBV, CMV, etc.)
- I think the body engages in a battle between trying to repress these viruses w/ its immune system and cleaning up the ROS bi-product/response from this immune activity (which results in atherosclerosis).

There are 2 ways to check for viruses. 1) You can detect for the antibody to the virus or 2) you can try to directly measure the viral load in the body.

For example, the gold standard for HIV is the antibody assay test. But a lot of HIV patients use viral load tests to see "how bad" the situation is with their virus.


- I actually spend time looking for "therapeutic vaccines" which can help the body mount a direct immune response to kill these viruses.

For example: Nventa (http://www.nventacorp.com/) is working a therapeutic vaccine for HPV -- the cancer virus that is currently killing Fa rrah Fawcett.



I mentioned this issue in passing here, as we discussed the potential risks in megadosing of polyphenols:

http://www.imminst.o...o...st&p=323360

rgds

pro
Edited by prophets, 18 May 2009 - 02:00 AM.

http://www.wrongdiag...virus/tests.htm

Can a person be tested for this virus, and is it possible to kill it?

So it looks like detection isn't that difficult, but getting rid of it is another story.

Can a person be tested for this virus, and is it possible to kill it?

So it looks like detection isn't that difficult, but getting rid of it is another story.

Apparently the blood bank does test for this as they have me labeled as CMV- (baby blood donor) and call me all the time to remind me to donate.
Edited by frankbuzin, 18 May 2009 - 06:03 AM.

Can a person be tested for this virus, and is it possible to kill it?

So it looks like detection isn't that difficult, but getting rid of it is another story.

Apparently the blood bank does test for this as they have me labeled as CMV- (baby blood donor) and call me all the time to remind me to donate.

You're saying you feel that if the blood bank thought you had it, they wouldn't let you give blood? Do you know that to be the case?

Lactoferrin, monolaurin, vitamin A, hops.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....t_uids=14670594

http://www.ncbi.nlm....st_uids=9822301

http://www.ncbi.nlm....t_uids=10933257

http://www.ncbi.nlm....t_uids=11431038


http://www.ncbi.nlm....t_uids=15451188

don't think i've seen monolaurin previously. thanks much tham.

Ahh monolaurin is that fatty acid in coconut that has anti viral, anti bacterial and anti-fungal properties. I wonder how it works and what other fatty acids can benefit us.

You're saying you feel that if the blood bank thought you had it, they wouldn't let you give blood?

Nowhere in my message did I say (or even allude) to such a thing

Please see:

http://www.unitedblo...s.org/faqs.html

and scroll down to the question regarding CMV negative blood.

Also:

http://www.nybloodce...n...&page_id=40


edit: added a link
Edited by frankbuzin, 18 May 2009 - 02:08 PM.

Can a person be tested for this virus, and is it possible to kill it?

So it looks like detection isn't that difficult, but getting rid of it is another story.

Apparently the blood bank does test for this as they have me labeled as CMV- (baby blood donor) and call me all the time to remind me to donate.

You're saying you feel that if the blood bank thought you had it, they wouldn't let you give blood? Do you know that to be the case?

The blood bank would certainly not refuse blood from cmv + people as then they wouldn't have any blood. It is rare to be an adult and cmv -.

Whether or not this blood pressure thing pans out cmv is already known to be the leading cause of cytotoxic t cell immunosenescence.

You're saying you feel that if the blood bank thought you had it, they wouldn't let you give blood?

Nowhere in my message did I say (or even allude) to such a thing

Please see:

http://www.unitedblo...s.org/faqs.html

and scroll down to the question regarding CMV negative blood.

Also:

http://www.nybloodce...n...&page_id=40


edit: added a link

The reason I ask is because it seems like blood banks must be spreading this around.

So if I've had unprotected sex with about 9 women in my life I almost certainly have it?

CMV may not be the only thing blood banks are spreading.

Blood from stem cells is the way of the future.


There is also an informative wikipedia page on the subject of CMV.

http://en.wikipedia....Cytomegalovirus
Edited by caston, 18 May 2009 - 03:44 PM.

The blood bank would certainly not refuse blood from cmv + people as then they wouldn't have any blood. It is rare to be an adult and cmv -.

Whether or not this blood pressure thing pans out cmv is already known to be the leading cause of cytotoxic t cell immunosenescence.

Any solutions on the horizon? I believe supplements and a healthy life style won't do. 

Yes, caston you're doomed and those girls too. Should we call Dr. House?
Edited by kismet, 18 May 2009 - 03:36 PM.

Yes, caston you're doomed and those girls too. Should we call Dr. House?

no, keep him away from my girls...

So if I've had unprotected sex with about 9 women in my life I almost certainly have it?

It doesn't need to be unprotected, but it probably helps. You may have already got it when aunt Mildred gave you those sloppy kisses as a little boy.

Or when the naughty boys peed on the drinking fountain

Anti-viral drugs can kill CMV fairly effectively but they are not benign drugs, so a risk/benefit analysis is in order that should take into account the severity of your CMV infection among other things (highly elevated titers in the antibody test may indicate significant/active infection for example).
Edited by FunkOdyssey, 18 May 2009 - 04:21 PM.

I read you can get it from your mother just from the act of being born.

Click HERE to rent this MEDICINES advertising spot to support LongeCity (this will replace the google ad above).

You're saying you feel that if the blood bank thought you had it, they wouldn't let you give blood? Do you know that to be the case?

That's not what he's saying. Someone with CMV can donate blood. However babies have weak immune systems. And there's some evidence that the liklihood of a CMV recurrence is linked to strength of initial infection. So the notion is "we can give CMV+ blood to adults, but we can only give CMV- blood to babies."

That makes CMV- blood MUCH more valuable.

Arginine seems to increase the damage done by a CMV infection. A lot of the herpatic viruses mess with arginine metabolism, probably as a way of disabling host defenses, (NO, made from arginine, triggers a macrophage response.) Herpes simplex, for instance, has a viral capsid which is disproportionately composed of arginine.

BACKGROUND: We hypothesized that cytomegalovirus (CMV) may contribute to the vasculopathy observed in cardiac allograft recipients by impairing the endothelial nitric oxide synthase pathway. We focused on asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA, the endogenous inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase) as a potential mediator of the adverse vascular effect of CMV. METHODS AND RESULTS: Heart transplant recipients manifested elevated plasma ADMA levels compared with healthy control subjects. Transplant patients with CMV DNA-positive leukocytes had higher plasma ADMA concentrations and more extensive transplant arteriopathy (TA). Human microvascular endothelial cells infected with the CMV isolates elaborated more ADMA. The increase in ADMA was temporally associated with a reduction in the activity of dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH, the enzyme that metabolizes ADMA). Infected cultures showed high levels of oxidative stress with enhanced endothelial production of superoxide anion. CONCLUSIONS: CMV infection in human heart transplant recipients is associated with higher ADMA elevation and more severe TA. CMV infection in endothelial cells increases oxidative stress, impairs DDAH activity, and increases ADMA elaboration. CMV infection may contribute to endothelial dysfunction and TA by dysregulation of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase pathway

http://www.ncbi.nlm....mp;ordinalpos=7

As mentioned by another poster, chronic inflammation probably also is linked to heart disease, possibly via the route TLR4 (upregulated in inflammation) ->CYB271B upregulation -> increased conversion of 25D3 into 1,25D3 which activated the vitamin D receptor.

The result of this is increased calcium in the blood, which can calcify soft tissue. (and resveratrol upregulates CYP271B)

The effect can be reversed with K2 (menaquinone)