Researches Find Evidence about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

A  New study has found a connection between chronic fatigue syndrome and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS) and 17 markers of inflammation found in the blood, indicating that only does the often doubted condition have a real, biological basis, it can be diagnose able by a blood test.

About Research:

Using blood samples from 192 patients with ME/CFS and 392 people without the condition, researchers from the Stanford School of Medicine found important differences in cytokine levels, immune system signal proteins found in your blood, in those with or without the condition.

After closely observing 51 cytokines, the study, which was published in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”, stated that the two cytokines levels were astonishingly different in those with ME/CFS. Those having the condition the levels of 17 cytokines vary on the basis of severity of their symptoms.

Of those 17 cytokines, 13 were found to be pro inflammatory, proposing that inflammation drives ME/CFS. This relation with the immune symptom may explain many of the symptoms people with ME/CFS suffer, which are usually described as “flulike”

When compared the patients with the healthy control subjects, interestingly some cytokines levels were lower in patients with mild ME/CFS than in the healthy control subjects. Lead author Dr. Jose Montoya, who oversees the Stanford ME/CFS initiative, said this may throw light on varying genetic predisposition among patients, which may explain why some people have a more severe form of ME/CFS. These studies also through light why more women are affected than men, as women tend to have more leptin, one of cytokines linked to disease severity, in their blood.

What it means

When the difference was measured between the blood of those with or without ME/CFS, researchers are very sure that their findings will lead to a diagnostic test as well as, will provide opportunities for future treatments.

There has been a lot of controversy and confusion surrounding ME/CFS, even whether it’s an actual disease said Dr. Mark Davis, the director of Stanford’s Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and infection and the study’s senior author. Our findings show clearly that it is an inflammatory disease and provide a solid basis for a diagnostic blood test.

More research is needed to establish any cause and effect between the inflammatory cytokines and ME/CFS, but Montoya told Stat News that the research gives an idea about the type of inflammation patients are experiencing, validating the disease.

I have seen the horrors of the disease multiplied by hundreds of patients, he said, It has been observed and talked about for 35 years now, sometimes with the onus of being described as a psychological condition. But chronic fatigue syndrome is by no means a part of imagination. It is 100 per real.

So According to the finding CFS/ME is an inflammatory Disease

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-Dr. Muneeba Rana, MD MBBS, FUMDC.

Reference: Originally appeared on The Mighty.