A gene signature for post-infectious Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Myalgic Encephalomyelities) may be the key to differential diagnosis in this complex neuroimmune disease (ICD-10 G93.3).

Persistent fatigue after infection is recognized and forms part of a clinically-defined syndrome (chronic fatigue syndrome or CFS). CFS is a highly heterogeneous illness which is characterized by the presence of new-onset persistent or relapsing exhaustion of sufficient severity that it interferes with normal activity.  Patients also report impaired short-term memory and concentration sleep abnormalities as is consistent with proinflammatory cytokines, musculoskeletal pain which is also recognized in infectious disorders and post exertional malaise.

Although a diagnostic test for a subgroup of patients with hydrogen sulfide(H2S) excesses Just came on the market in Europe, there remain no clinically reliable disease markers for the sub-set of patients with post infectious chronic fatigue syndrome.

Differential expression of key genes identified in this study offer an insight into the possible mechanism of chronic fatigue following infection. The representative biomarkers identified in this research appear promising as potential biomarkers for differential diagnosis and treatment.

 

This work was funded by THE MEA RAMSAY RESEARCH FUND (RRF).

The MEA Ramsay Research Fund is the ring-fenced research fund operated by the ME Association.  It is currently funding new research into muscle abnormalities and raising funds to set up a post-mortem and tissue bank for ME research.  More information on the work of the RRF, including details of past and present research funding, can be found on the research section of the MEA website at: http://www.meassociation.org.uk/content/blogcategory/21/145/

Paper:

“A Gene Signature for Post-Infectious Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (UK), BMC Medical Genomics 2009, 2:38doi:10.1186/1755-8794-2-38, June 25, 2009

John W Gow¹, Suzanne Hagan¹, Pawel Herzyk², Celia Cannon², Peter O Behan¹ and Abhijit Chaudhuri<sup>4

1</sup>Dept. of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian Univerisity, Glasgow G4, 0Ba, UK;
²The Sir Henry Wellcome Functional Genomics Facility, Facultuy of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, G128QQ, UK;
³Glasgow Veterinary School, University of Glasgow, UK;
⁴Essex Centre for Neurological Sciences, Oldchurch Hospital, Romford, RM7 OBE, UK

Related Link: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1755-8794/2/38

Contact: John W Gow, Email: john.gow@gcal.ac.uk