异源性鼠白血病病毒 (MLV) 相关病毒 (XMRV) 于 2006 年首次在一些人类前列腺癌中被描述。但直到 2009 年，它才引起人们的注意，当时在肌痛性脑脊髓炎/慢性疲劳综合症 (ME/CFS) 患者的样本中也发现了它，作为传染性病毒和 MLV 相关 DNA。这一发现之后，国际研究界迅速努力了解这种关联的重要性及其作为一种重要的人类病原体广泛传播的潜力。几年之内，世界各地研究人员的努力未能重复这些发现，越来越多的证据表明实验室受到小鼠源性病毒和病毒 DNA 序列的污染，这被接受为最初发现的解释。作为从事这些研究的研究人员，我们在此对 XMRV 作为人类病原体的兴衰进行历史回顾，并讨论从这些事件中吸取的教训。

Xenotropic murine leukemia virus (MLV)-related virus (XMRV) was first described in 2006 in some human prostate cancers. But it drew little attention until 2009, when it was also found, as infectious virus and as MLV-related DNA, in samples from people suffering from myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). This discovery was rapidly followed by efforts of the international research community to understand the significance of the association and its potential to spread widely as an important human pathogen. Within a few years, efforts by researchers worldwide failed to repeat these findings, and mounting evidence for laboratory contamination with mouse-derived virus and viral DNA sequences became accepted as the explanation for the initial findings. As researchers engaged in these studies, we present here a historical review of the rise and fall of XMRV as a human pathogen, and we discuss the lessons learned from these events.