Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Possible Diagnostic Markers
RESEARCH BRIEF: Two different research teams have recently identified blood biomarkers for
chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS or ME/CFS), something that could eventually be used to make diagnoses.
A research team at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center has identified genes that become more active after moderate exercise. This work was done on mice, but researchers say it provides an hypothesis for comparing the blood of people with ME/CFS to that of healthy people to examine the genetic activity. This is one of several teams working on diagnostic markers that result from post-exertional malaise, a key symptom of ME/CFS.
Read more about it: Blood Biomarkers for CFS: A Light at the End of the Tunnel
Separately, researchers at the University of Hawaii say they've also found a possible diagnostic marker for ME/CFS as well as evidence that ME/CFS may be an autoimmune condition. They found a type of anticardiolipin antibodies (ACAs) in the sera (a component of blood) in 95% of test subjects with ME/CFS. They say this suggests the possibility of changes to liver mitochondria.
See the full paper: Anticardiolipin Antibodies in the Sera of Patients with Diagnosed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
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Comments
It’s interesting work to say the least.
We tend to forget that the genes we get from our parents tend to play a role (whether it’s a major role, or a minor role) in our health. Hopefully, more can come out of these studies so we may better understand the problem and begin to treat it more effectively!
Research has been so slow (I’ve had CFS for 25 years and FM for 23 years) but finally they’re getting so much closer to the answers we need.
In my immediate and extended family, we have so many autoimmune diseases that I’ve always suspected that my CFS and FM were probably in this category too. I have Raynaud’s and hypothyroidism and others in the family have Type I diabetes, Addison’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, vitiligo, and myasthenia gravis.
No matter what the researchers ultimately find, getting some simple routine blood tests for CFS and FM would be a major breakthrough for future patients, and that would be the first step towards finding a possible cure.
Dr Sarah Myhill offers a mitochondrial function test – and other further very useful tests – as a diagnostic test in the UK. I have had it and found it very helpful. Her material is online at her website. I have only been on her treatment programme for a few weeks (it’s tailored to your test results) and I think it’s helping me. The test is only available to UK residents at the moment, I think, but it’s a work in progress and I’m pretty sure this is a step in the right direction! If anyone is in the UK I strongly recommend getting this test. I can’t tell you how much it has helped me already to know more specifically what is wrong.