Publication Type | Academic Article |
Authors | O'Neal A, Glass K, Emig C, Vitug A, Henry S, Shungu D, Mao X, Levine S, Hanson M |
Journal | Proteomes |
Volume | 10 |
Issue | 2 |
Date Published | 06/13/2022 |
ISSN | 2227-7382 |
Abstract | Infectious pathogens are implicated in the etiology of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) because of the occurrence of outbreaks of the disease. While a number of different infectious agents have been associated with the onset of ME/CFS, the identity of a specific organism has been difficult to determine in individual cases. The aim of our study is to survey ME/CFS subjects for evidence of an infectious trigger and/or evidence of immune dysregulation via serological testing of plasma samples for antibodies to 122 different pathogen antigens. Immune profiles were compared to age-, sex-, and BMI-matched controls to provide a basis for comparison. Antibody levels to individual antigens surveyed in this study do not implicate any one of the pathogens in ME/CFS, nor do they rule out common pathogens that frequently infect the US population. However, our results revealed sex-based differences in steady-state humoral immunity, both within the ME/CFS cohort and when compared to trends seen in the healthy control cohort. |
DOI | 10.3390/proteomes10020021 |
PubMed ID | 35736801 |
PubMed Central ID | PMC9228258 |