Absence of measles virus and canine distemper virus transcripts in long-term bone marrow cultures from patients with Paget’s disease of bone

The presence of intranuclear inclusions in pagetic osteoclasts with similar characteristics to those seen in some slow viral diseases has lead to the hypothesis that Paget’s disease is caused by a similar infection. Bone marrow aspirates from seven patients with hemipelvic Paget’s disease were taken from both sides of the pelvis and cultured under identical conditions. RNA was extracted after approximately 2 weeks of culture and reverse transcriptase-linked polymerase chain reaction used to investigate the expression of measles and canine distemper virus RNA. We were unable to detect the presence of measles virus (MV) or canine distemper virus (CDV) transcripts in bone marrow cultures from either affected or unaffected sites in any of our patients. The results of this study do not support a role for MV or CDV in the pathogenesis of Paget’s disease of bone.