Financial Times\u2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Groundbreaking\u2019 research finds \u2018genetic signals\u2019 for the long-stigmatized illness<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n People with chronic fatigue syndrome have a different genetic profile to the general population, with DNA variations in their immune and nervous systems, the biggest biological study of the disease has shown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Edinburgh university project analysed DNA from 15,500 people with the syndrome, finding their samples varied significantly from non-sufferers in eight small regions. The scientists have identified the differing genes and called them \u201cgenetic signals\u201d of the condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The results could lead to diagnostic tests for the mysterious and heavily stigmatised disease of prolonged exhaustion, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis or ME\/CFS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of the estimated 67mn people worldwide with ME\/CFS \u201chave been to doctors and been disbelieved or told it\u2019s not a real illness,\u201d said Sonya Chowdhury, chief executive of the charity Action for ME. \u201cWe\u2019ll be able to take this study into the treatment room\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009and rebuff that lack of belief.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The results are \u201cgroundbreaking\u201d, said Chowdhury, who helped guide the study. \u201cWe have gone from knowing next to nothing about the causes of ME\/CFS to giving researchers clear targets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The eight genetic signals discovered include two that relate to the body\u2019s response to infection \u2014 which corresponds with patients often reporting that their symptoms started after an infectious illness. Others are linked to the nervous system and one is associated with chronic pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese signals align with how people with ME\/CFS describe their illness,\u201d said study leader Chris Ponting, Edinburgh\u2019s professor of medical bioinformatics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the results are not sufficient on their own to use for developing tests or treatments, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHighly targeted studies are now needed to understand why each of these eight signals is linked with ME\/CFS so that we can move towards future diagnostics and treatments,\u201d Ponting said. \u201cIt is a forgotten and forsaken disease that should have had a genetic study like this 15 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The results have not yet been submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, but a paper will be posted shortly on the MedRxiv preprint server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The findings do not shed light on any overlap between ME\/CFS and Long Covid, which affects an estimated 950,000 people in the UK, in addition to the roughly 400,000 with ME\/CFS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The two conditions share symptoms, such as profound malaise following mental or physical exertion, but they are not identical and no shared genetic factors have yet been identified, said Ponting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another remaining mystery is why about 80 per cent of people diagnosed with ME\/CFS are female. The genetic signals discovered by the study gave no hint of an explanation for the imbalance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Andy Devereux-Cooke, a long-term ME sufferer involved in the study, said: \u201cThis paper will be huge for the patient population who feel abandoned, even though it does not provide all the answers or provide practical assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Financial Times\u2018 Groundbreaking\u2019 research finds \u2018genetic signals\u2019 for the long-stigmatized illness People with chronic fatigue syndrome have a different genetic profile to the general population, with DNA variations in their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,1321,188,305,309,866],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brain","category-chronic-fatigue","category-genetics","category-me-cfs","category-memory","category-memory-deficit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13051"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13106,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13051\/revisions\/13106"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}