Proteomic Signatures in Cerebrospinal Fluid and Their Clinical Associations in Patients with ME/CFS
Dr. Jonas Bergquist and Dr. Wenzhong Xiao—Directors of the ME/CFS Collaborative Center at Uppsala and Computational Research Center for Complex Diseases, respectively—recently published a paper on their work investigating the proteomic signatures of ME/CFS in cerebrospinal fluid.
The team found that people with ME/CFS who also have postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) have higher levels of proteins related to neutrophil degranulation and platelet activation. They also found differences based on illness severity, where pathways related to disruptions in immune defense, clotting systems, and growth factor regulation were higher in people with more severe ME/CFS. These discoveries help explain why ME/CFS looks different from person to person, and point toward promising targets for future research and treatment development.
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LIVE EVENT | OMF JOURNAL CLUB
If you want to dive deeper into this paper, join Dr. Danielle Meadows, OMF’s VP of Research Programs, for another session of OMF Journal Club on July 6 at 3pm ET.
During the session, Dr. Meadows will talk through the main ideas of the paper, the figures, and the implications for people with ME/CFS and Long COVID. If you’re not able to join the session live, a recording will be sent to all registrants.
The Bigger Picture
The results of the pathway analysis in this study are consistent with previous evidence of vascular and immune dysregulation in ME/CFS. They also further implicate issues with metabolic regulation as being part of the pathophysiology of this disease.
Beyond ME/CFS, findings from the pathway and ratio analyses match patterns independently reported in Long COVID research, pointing to a shared inflammatory process affecting the nervous system. Protein markers linked to ME/CFS severity also overlap with those that predict cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting common pathways of brain cell stress across neuroimmune conditions.
This manuscript is part of the Deep Neuroinflammation Assessment project. Read the full paper in Scientific Reports.
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