Doctors have for long known the symptoms of CFS - constant exhaustion, mental fogginess, sleep disorders, muscle/joint pain, impaired memory, inability to concentrate and depression. Lack of physical determinants has caused the debilitating illness to go undiagnosed in most patients across the world.
Scientists say that they have discovered distinct immune changes in patients diagnosed with CFS, known medically as myalgic ence8phalomyelitis, in which symptoms range from extreme fatigue and difficulty concentrating to headaches and muscle pain.Researchers at the Centre for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health used immunoassay testing methods to determine the levels of 51 immune biomarkers in blood plasma samples collected through two multicenter studies that represented a total of 298 CFS patients and 348 healthy controls.They found specific patterns in patients who had the disease three years or less that were not present in controls or in patients who had the disease for more than three years. Short duration patients had increased amounts of many different types of immune molecules called cytokines. The association was unusually strong with a cytokine called interferon gamma that has been linked to the fatigue that follows many viral infections. Cytokine levels were not explained by symptom severity.
"We now have evidence confirming what millions of people with this disease already know that CFS isn't psychological," states lead author Mady Hornig, director of translational research at the Centre.
"Our results should accelerate the process of establishing the diagnosis after individuals first fall ill as well as discovery of new treatment strategies focusing on these early blood markers".
There are already human monoclonal antibodies on the market that can dampen levels of a cytokine called interleukin-17A that is among those the study shows were elevated in early-stage patients.Before any drugs can be tested in a clinical trial, Dr Hornig and colleagues hope to replicate the current study that follows patients for a year to see how cytokine levels, including interleukin-17A, differ within individual patients over time, depending on how long they have had the disease.
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