Hmm. I was interested to see Dedra Buchwald's name. She used to publish good stuff on ME/CFS. Like the one you cite, plus e.g.
this:
J Rheumatol. 1997 Feb;24(2):372-6.
Markers of inflammation and immune activation in chronic fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Buchwald D1,
Wener MH,
Pearlman T,
Kith P.
but now, I find her name associated with stuff like
this...
J Pain. 2016 Mar;17(3):328-35. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2015.10.020. Epub 2015 Dec 2.
Reported Pain and Fatigue Behaviors Mediate the Relationship Between Catastrophizing and Perceptions of Solicitousness in Patients With Chronic Fatigue.
Romano JM1,
Molton IR2,
Alschuler KN3,
Jensen MP2,
Schmaling KB4,
Buchwald DS5.
Re NK cells: when I was last at the Open Medicine Clinic, at which I found that I had low NK cell number and function, Dr Kaufman told me that Kogelnik had just been presenting at the CDC about NK cells. Interestingly, the findings (whose exactly, I'm not sure) were that, on average, ME/CFS patients had low normal NK cell function, not significantly low function. They were surprised by this finding, also.
Bottom line is - yes, there are people studying NK cells in ME/CFS. In fact there are a lot of publications on this in the literature.
Here, for example, is a review article from the
Journal of Clinical & Cellular Immunology:
Review Article Open Access
Low NK Cell Activity in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and Relationship to Symptom Severity
David Strayer*, Victoria Scott and William Carter
Abstract
Background: Natural killer (NK) cells act as an immune surveillance against invading pathogens and tumors. NK cell cytotoxicity (NKCC) has been reported to be decreased in patients with CFS.
Methods: The objective of this review was to conduct an analysis of available publications that reported NKCC data in CFS in order to evaluate any relationships to case definitions used to define CFS and symptom severity.
Results: Of 17 studies that evaluated NKCC in patients with CFS, defined using the CDC 1988 and/or 1994 case definition (CD), 88% (15/17) concluded that NKCC was decreased in CFS patients compared to normal controls. The NKCC decrease was seen using two established methods, 51Cr release (11/13) and flow cytometry (4/4). The mean percent decrease in NKCC using the CDC 1988 CD (66.3%) was significantly greater than that using the CDC 1994 CD (49.7%) (p<0.01). This result is consistent with that of six publications showing a greater decrease in NKCC associated with increased CFS symptom severity based on the lower symptom requirement for the CDC 1994 vs. 1988 CD. In contrast, there was no significant difference in the mean percent decrease in NKCC seen comparing the CDC 1994 CD defined population using the 51Cr release (48.3%) vs. flow cytometry (50.7%) assays (p>0.5). Finally, seven studies investigating the ability of various agents to augment NKCC in patients with CFS showed increases of NKCC with both in vitro exposure (4/5) and in vivo exposure using randomized trials (2/2).
Conclusions: Low NKCC is commonly seen in CFS and is associated with increase symptom severity.
