Special Issue - Abstracts and Reviews: 7th Joint Conference of the International Cytokine Society and the International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research, CYTOKINES IN CANCER, INFLAMMATION AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: TRANSLATING SCIENCE INTO HEALTH
doi:10.1016/j.cyto.2008.07.077 -Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a Heterogeneous disease with unknown etiology. Previous studies have shown that viral specific immune responses and immune abnormalities play critical roles in the pathogenesis of ME/CFS. The central problem in the management of patients with ME/CFS is the lack of biomarkers for patient stratification into subgroups according to distinct immune responses, virus infections and neurological abnormalities. This situation hinders both the diagnostic process and development of specific treatments.
In this study our aim was to subgroup ME/CFS patients based on serum chemokine and cytokine profiles with the ultimate goal of establishing disease parameters on a molecular level that correlate with distinct disease phenotypes. We used suspension antibody microarrays of 25-cytokines and chemokines on a Luminex platform for serum profiling of 168 ME/CFS patients and 140 healthy controls. Our analysis has revealed distinct pathogen associated signatures with significant 5- to 200-fold differences between patients and controls for the inflammatory serum chemokines IL-8, IP-10, MIP-a and MIP-1b, as well as the pro inflammatory cytokines IL-6, TNFa and IL-1b.
Moreover, our data shows for the first time in ME/CFS a cytokine and chemokine profile, which suggests a TH17 shift in subgroups of our cohort. We conclude that cytokine and chemokine patterns in subgroups of ME/CFS can be used diagnostically, as serum biomarkers to stratify patients for appropriate anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antiviral therapeutics.
doi:10.1016/j.cyto.2008.07.0771 Whittemore Peterson Institute, Reno, NV, USA, 2 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA, 3 Protea Pharma, Brussels Belgium, Belgium, 4 Free University of Brussels, Academic Hospital Brussels Belgium, Belgium