This is a continuation from another thread, as recommended by the poster @auntjessie.
I continue to look around the internet for better explanations on what this "protein" in the blood might be. Others have postulated that it might be an autoantibody protein, so I browsed around:
Through research exploration, I've found research papers like this one:
Misaki Y, Yamamoto K, Yanagi K, Miura H, Ichijo H, Kato T, et al. “B cell epitope on the U1 snRNP-C autoantigen contains a sequence similar to that of the herpes simplex virus protein.”
I've also found comments like this within other research:
LG Fradkin 2016 “Here, we review evidence that such large RNPs employ an endogenous NE-budding pathway, previously thought to be exclusive to the nuclear egress of Herpes viruses.
I've sent this information to the University of Washington Virology lab, but they've got a COVID-19 focus at the moment, of course.
I don't pretend that the RNP protein is, in fact, the protein people like Terri Warren (and others) mention trip up some of the HSV tests. Who really knows. But, since the supposed percentages are so wild for low positives, it seems strange there isn't more information out there.
If I had to ask the experts here a specific question about it, it'd be "what mechanism does the Western Blot use that allows it to rule out this mysterious protein and unearth so many false positives, while the automated tests *cause* so many false positives?"
Thanks for any commentary or perspective.