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#OMFScienceWednesdays-Update on Bob Naviaux validation Study

Ben H

OMF Volunteer Correspondent
Messages
1,131
Location
U.K.
Hi guys,


On this #OMFScienceWednesday, we have a promising update on the metabolomics validation study we are funding in Dr. Bob Naviaux’s lab at the University of California, San Diego. This study is designed to independently validate Dr. Naviaux’s groundbreaking findings of metabolic features of ME/CFS, published in 2016.

As some of you may remember, Dr. Naviaux’s initial study carried out metabolomics profiling on patients, to measure levels of all of their serum metabolites, the small molecules involved in metabolism. This yielded a picture of widespread disruptions in ME/CFS metabolism compared to healthy controls – and most importantly, a metabolic ‘signature’ that appeared to distinguish patients from controls. This was excellent news given how badly the field needs a biomarker, which can help in developing the first real biological diagnostic for ME/CFS. But all potential biomarkers must be validated, so that’s why we funded this study.

The latest news is great news: 23 of 30 (77%) of the metabolic pathway abnormalities found in the first study were validated by this follow-up study, despite large differences in clinical practice and geography between the two patient cohorts. These results add support that this metabolic signature can distinguish ME/CFS patients from healthy controls. Dr. Naviaux believes this metabolic signature is telling us that ME/CFS results from the persistence of a ‘dauer’-like metabolic program, leading to an energy conservation state mediated by the cell danger response (CDR).

For more on Dr. Naviaux’s original findings, including his theory about dauer and CDR – and why Dr. Ron Davis thinks his work is so important in the search for a biomarker and a better understanding of ME/CFS, see: https://www.omf.ngo/2016/08/30/mecfs-ground-breaking-metabolomics-results-by-ronald-w-davis-phd/

For more of the latest from OMF, check out today’s newsletter: https://www.omf.ngo/2018/02/06/omf-newsletter-winter-2018/


Thanks,


B
 

raghav

Senior Member
Messages
809
Location
India
@Ben H Can you share with us the roadmap and timelines that you have set yourself at OMF for the year 2018 in terms of the experiements you are planning to carry out and the publishing of the outcomes of those experiments. We know it is difficult to give rigid timelines for research into unknown areas, but still if OMF can share the roadmap with PR it will be nice. It will keep us pepped up and we in turn will surely cheer you in your endeavours. Thanks.
 

Neunistiva

Senior Member
Messages
442
This is amazing news! I was worried it would be difficult to get consistent results in metabolomics, Dr @ChrisArmstrong kindly explained this to us in another thread "Sleep, light, food, exercise, just about everything impacts your metabolite profile. It's constantly in flux."

I guess now we're sure.
 

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,935
Location
Albuquerque
@Ben H Can you share with us the roadmap and timelines that you have set yourself at OMF for the year 2018 in terms of the experiements you are planning to carry out and the publishing of the outcomes of those experiments.
Ben H is a "patient reporter" for all things OMF. He is in the UK and is not a researcher himself. He volunteered to keep us informed on the interesting things happening at OMF and he is doing a great job of that! :thumbsup:
 

Ben H

OMF Volunteer Correspondent
Messages
1,131
Location
U.K.
@Ben H Can you share with us the roadmap and timelines that you have set yourself at OMF for the year 2018 in terms of the experiements you are planning to carry out and the publishing of the outcomes of those experiments. We know it is difficult to give rigid timelines for research into unknown areas, but still if OMF can share the roadmap with PR it will be nice. It will keep us pepped up and we in turn will surely cheer you in your endeavours. Thanks.

Hi @raghav

Sushi’s post below explains pretty well-I don’t have that information. However we will definately be getting updates on this. I mentioned in the other Newsletter thread just posted that I have spoken with Ron and when we spoke, he mentioned the recent $5million donation enabling expedition of certain things that were previously limited by funds.

However because it’s an absolutely huge donation, it will take some time to provision I imagine.

We will get updates on this for sure, however.


Ben H is a "patient reporter" for all things OMF. He is in the UK and is not a researcher himself. He volunteered to keep us informed on the interesting things happening at OMF and he is doing a great job of that! :thumbsup:

Thanks @Sushi...Though I feel like a fumbling muppet most of the time...


B
 

Murph

:)
Messages
1,799
Great news!

> This study is designed to independently validate Dr. Naviaux’s groundbreaking findings of metabolic features of ME/CFS, published in 2016.

Can we really call it independent validation though, if Naviaux is running it? I'm pleased to hear it is a different patient set from different geographies though. That adds confidence.

Also, I'm a bit confused about the 30 pathways . The abstract of the original paper mentions 20:

We targeted 612 metabolites in plasma from 63 biochemical pathways by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography, electrospray ionization, and tandem mass spectrometry in a single-injection method. Patients with CFS showed abnormalities in 20 metabolic pathways. Eighty percent of the diagnostic metabolites were decreased, consistent with a hypometabolic syndrome. Pathway abnormalities included sphingolipid, phospholipid, purine, cholesterol, microbiome, pyrroline-5-carboxylate, riboflavin, branch chain amino acid, peroxisomal, and mitochondrial metabolism. Area under the receiver operator characteristic curve analysis showed diagnostic accuracies of 94% [95% confidence interval (CI), 84–100%] in males using eight metabolites and 96% (95% CI, 86–100%) in females using 13 metabolites. Our data show that despite the heterogeneity of factors leading to CFS, the cellular metabolic response in patients was homogeneous, statistically robust, and chemically similar to the evolutionarily conserved persistence response to environmental stress known as dauer.