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Immune network analysis of cerebrospinal fluid in ME/CFS with atypical & classical presentations

New paper by M Hornig, C G Gottschalk, M L Eddy, X Che, J E Ukaigwe, D L Peterson and W I Lipkin

Press Release
Scientists Discover Biological Evidence of “Atypical” Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Defining subgroups may help clinicians identify and treat the complex, debilitating disease also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis or ME/CFS

NEW YORK (April 4, 2017)—Scientists at the Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health are the first to report immune signatures differentiating two subgroups of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS): “classical” and “atypical.” This complex, debilitating disease is characterized by symptoms ranging from extreme fatigue after exertion to difficulty concentrating, headaches, and muscle pain.

Typically, symptoms of ME/CFS begin suddenly following a flu-like infection, but a subset of cases classified by the investigators as “atypical” follows a different disease course, either from triggers preceding symptoms by months or years, or accompanied by the later development of additional serious illnesses.

To uncover evidence of these disease types, first author Mady Hornig, MD, director of translational research at CII and associate professor of Epidemiology at Mailman, and colleagues used immunoassays to measure levels of 51 immune biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid samples taken from 32 cases of classical and 27 cases of atypical ME/CFS. All study participants were diagnosed using the same standard criteria, but atypical cases either had prior histories of viral encephalitis, illness after foreign travel or blood transfusion, or later developed a concurrent malady—seizure disorders, multiple sclerosis-like demyelinating disorders, Gulf War Illness, or a range of cancers—at rates much higher than seen in the general population.

Their analysis revealed lower levels of immune molecules in individuals with atypical ME/CFS than those with a classical presentation and course of illness, including dramatically lower levels of interleukin 7 (IL7), a protein linked to viral infections, and interleukin 17A (IL 17A) and chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 9 (CXCL9), inflammatory molecules implicated in a variety of neurological disorders.

“We now have biological evidence that the triggers for ME/CFS may involve distinct pathways to disease, or, in some cases, predispose individuals to the later development of serious comorbidities,” says Hornig. “Importantly, our results suggest that these early biomarker profiles may be detectable soon after diagnosis of ME/CFS, laying a foundation for better understanding of and treatments for this complex and poorly understood illness.”

“Early identification of patients who meet the usual clinical criteria when first diagnosed but then go on to develop atypical features would help clinicians like myself identify and treat these complex cases and even prevent fatal outcomes,” says co-author Daniel L. Peterson, MD, principal clinician at Sierra Internal Medicine in Incline Village, NV.​

Subgroups
The new study builds on earlier research by Hornig and collaborators that found robust evidence of distinct stages in ME/CFS. A pair of 2015 publications based on analyses of blood and cerebrospinal fluid showed differences in the immune signatures of ME/CFS patients who had the disease for three years or less as compared with those who had been ill for more than three years. The researchers reported that patients were flush with cytokines and chemokines until around the three-year mark—suggesting an over-activated immune response in that phase of the illness; thereafter the immune system showed evidence of “exhaustion,” and levels of immune molecules dropped.

In the new study, both subsets of ME/CFS patients showed signs of an unbalanced or dysregulated immune system within the central nervous system, with immune markers different than those seen in healthy individuals. However, the dampened immune profiles previously observed after the three-year mark were only observed in individuals with the classical form of the disease, not in those with atypical ME/CFS. Among subjects in the atypical group, levels of cytokines and chemokines were more likely to remain steady or increase.

According to Hornig, instead of the immune exhaustion seen in later phases of classical ME/CFS, atypical patients may be experiencing a “smoldering inflammatory process” in which the immune system is still working to recover, although she acknowledges that much work remains to be done to confirm this hypothesis. Alternatively, these findings could suggest a pathway to disease in atypical individuals that involves biomarkers not captured in the 51-molecule assay, potentially even involving non-immune-related processes. Atypical individuals may also have genetic susceptibilities that lead their immune systems to respond differently than in classical cases.

Ongoing studies at CII are exploring other subgroups, including patients with allergic disorders, high levels of cognitive dysfunction, and gastrointestinal disturbances.

“Multiple biological pathways are likely involved in the pathogenesis of ME/CFS, with a range of clinical subtypes relating to variability in the types of environmental triggers, genetic and epigenetic vulnerability, as well as comorbidity patterns,” says senior author Ian Lipkin, MD, director of CII. “Shedding light on these pathways may help us to identify the various agents that precipitate disease as well as to design more precise, targeted treatments.”​

The study was supported by the Chronic Fatigue Initiative/Hutchins Family Foundation and the Edward P. Evans Foundation. Additional authors include Meredith L. Eddy, Xiaoyu Che, and Joy Ukaigwe at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health; and C. Gunnar Gottschalk at Sierra Internal Medicine. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.”



Dr. Ian Lipkin, Dr. Mady Hornig and the scientists at the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health need help to fund an exceptionally comprehensive and robust study for ME/CFS. Please read about this monster of a study and consider making a donation.
From http://microbediscovery.org/2017/04/04/new-research-discovers-evidence-of-atypical-classical-mecfs/

Abstract:

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a persistent and debilitating disorder marked by cognitive and sensory dysfunction and unexplained physical fatigue.

Classically, cases present after a prodrome consistent with infection; however, some cases are atypical and have a different presentation and comorbidities that pose challenges for differential diagnosis. We analyzed cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 32 cases with classical ME/CFS and 27 cases with atypical ME/CFS using a 51-plex cytokine assay.

Atypical subjects differed in cytokine profiles from classical subjects. In logistic regression models incorporating immune molecules that were identified as potential predictor variables through feature selection, we found strong associations between the atypical ME/CFS phenotype and lower CSF levels of the inflammatory mediators, interleukin 17A and CXCL9.

Network analysis revealed an absence of inverse inter-cytokine relationships in CSF from atypical patients, and more sparse positive intercorrelations, than classical subjects. Interleukin 1 receptor antagonist appeared to be a negative regulator in classical ME/CFS, with patterns suggestive of disturbances in interleukin 1 signaling and autoimmunity-type patterns of immune activation.

Immune signatures in the central nervous system of ME/CFS patients with atypical features may be distinct from those with more typical clinical presentations.
[Text broken up for readability]
Full paper available http://www.nature.com/tp/journal/v7/n4/abs/tp201744a.html
 
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duncan

Senior Member
Messages
2,240
Not quite sure what to make of this appearing in Translational Psychiatry. What was their logic in publishing this there?

I am curious how bifurcating a disease profile before the disease is broadly accepted as an entity will be received. For many in the medical community, certainly in the community this journal is usually associated with, taking a zero sum and halving it still will leave you with a zero.

I am not clear how inflammatory markers present in depressive disorders, or if there are comparisons that can be made, but this would concern me somewhat. For instance, does one part of this dichotomy align more with percieved mental disorder cytokine/chemokine presentations?

Who can take (hijack?) this data where?
 

A.B.

Senior Member
Messages
3,780
This paper is hard to understand :eek:.

The deficits identified here in CNS interleukin 1 signaling among subjects with atypical presentations of ME/CFS, along with our finding of strong associations of very low levels of two inflammatory mediators with the atypical phenotype, suggest the potential value of vigorous pursuit of alternate, nonimmune mechanisms of pathogenesis in more complex, atypical patients with ME/CFS.

What alternate mechanisms of pathogenesis do they have in mind?
 
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Cheesus

Senior Member
Messages
1,292
Location
UK
This in particular drew my eye:

The deficits identified here in CNS interleukin 1 signaling among subjects with atypical presentations of ME/CFS, along with our finding of strong associations of very low levels of two inflammatory mediators with the atypical phenotype, suggest the potential value of vigorous pursuit of alternate, nonimmune mechanisms of pathogenesis in more complex, atypical patients with ME/CFS

I had a highly atypical onset with some unusual symptoms that do not present in other patients. In my eyes, this quote suggests something that many of us have long suspected and that has been confirmed to me by my own experience: that a range of different triggers may produce a common endpoint (for atypical patients).
 
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Kati

Patient in training
Messages
5,497
Looks like a bit of data fishing for more papers, but it's an interesting hypothesis nonetheless.
What is the hypothesis you mention?

From my point of view, there are no hypothesis, but simply findings. They are finding the cytokines are different in the CSF from 2 groups of patients who have ME: those with classical presentation compared to those with atypical presentation.

The patients belong to Dr Peterson's cohort who have catalogued (and frozen) biological samples, and carefully collected data and history about them. Moreover, he has followed them over time and this study was able to look at the patients who subsequently developed cancer and other issues.

Very interesting and invaluable for scientists of the caliber of Mady Hornig and Ian Lipkin, but also all of our researchers.
 
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duncan

Senior Member
Messages
2,240
From my point of view, there are no hypothesis, but simply findings

There are embedded hypotheses. For instance, that one can split patients, who clinically satisfy requirements for an ME/CFS diagnosis, into at least two subcategories that can be demonstrated with CSF variables.
 

ljimbo423

Senior Member
Messages
4,705
Location
United States, New Hampshire
It seems pretty clear that immune system dysfunction is a major factor in CFS/ME. I just wish researchers would focus more on the cause of the immune system dysfunction.

It seems to me that information, could lead to very good treatments. This cytokine analysis is all over the place, with no defined target for treatment.
 

Cheesus

Senior Member
Messages
1,292
Location
UK
One of the interesting elements of the article at microbediscovery.org is the hypothesis that classical patients ultimately experience immune exhaustion, whereas atypical patients may continue to experience a smouldering immune system:

According to Hornig, instead of the immune exhaustion seen in later phases of classical ME/CFS, atypical patients may be experiencing a “smoldering inflammatory process” in which the immune system is still working to recover, although she acknowledges that much work remains to be done to confirm this hypothesis.

I wonder if the smouldering inflammatory process in atypical patients aligns to the group that rarely/never contracts infections, whereas the immune exhaustion in classical patients aligns to the group that seems to regularly contract infections.

This unusual dichotomy amongst patients always struck me as an important focal point of research, but to my knowledge it is not really on the radar of researchers.
 

Kati

Patient in training
Messages
5,497
One of the interesting elements of the article at microbediscovery.org is the hypothesis that classical patients ultimately experience immune exhaustion, whereas atypical patients may continue to experience a smouldering immune system:



I wonder if the smouldering inflammatory process in atypical patients aligns to the group that rarely/never contracts infections, whereas the immune exhaustion in classical patients aligns to the group that seems to regularly contract infections.

This unusual dichotomy amongst patients always struck me as an important focal point of research, but to my knowledge it is not really on the radar of researchers.

This is the opposite for me. Classical presentation, haven't had a cold in over 8 years of illness.
 

Snowdrop

Rebel without a biscuit
Messages
2,933
Just a random thought and probably of no consequence but I wonder if the atypical type ME might just be a post along the road to the total immune exhaustion type. We know that there is a different biologic presentation after about three years and I'm wondering if their are other changes over time that follow a less definite time frame/pattern.
 

Diwi9

Administrator
Messages
1,780
Location
USA
As a follow-up thought to @Cheesus, it is interesting that the smoldering immune process seems to lead to the development of additional medical problems.

people with atypical CFS went on to develop simultaneous conditions such as seizure disorders, several types of cancers, or demyelinating disorders - that is, multiple sclerosis-like diseases that damage myelin, the protective sheath around the nerve cells in our brains and spinal cords.