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Genes in ME Convergent genomic studies identify association of GRIK2 & NPAS2 with CFS

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Might I suggest that rare mutations in genes such as GRIK2 and COMT are not directly related to ME/CFS (i.e. direct causation - although they may contribute to a range of 'stressors') but may help determine the range of symptoms an individual develops after onset?
Possibly, but that's not what this study is claiming. They're saying that certain SNPs are more common in ME/CFS patients, suggesting that those SNPs (and/or genes) contribute to developing ME/CFS.
 

Marco

Grrrrrrr!
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Possibly, but that's not what this study is claiming. They're saying that certain SNPs are more common in ME/CFS patients, suggesting that those SNPs (and/or genes) contribute to developing ME/CFS.

I mentioned GRIK2 and COMT because they are two genes I've looked at in respect of ME/CFS. Several studies have associated COMT SNPs with ME/CFS but its also associated with many other conditions including most frequently schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression. But in no condition is there a one to one relationship between a specific SNP and a specific disorder.

From what I could determine COMT SNPs may be a risk factor along with many other SNPs for developing a range of disorders (which may well share the same underlying pathophysiology). For example, having one or more of the met alleles of COMT val158met appears to predispose individuals to increased pain perception and deficits in executive function when under stress - regardless of what medical condition they have.

So certain SNPs may well be contributory risk factors to developing certain disorders (likely to involve neuroinflammation I'd propose) but not specifically to develop ME/CFS.

Not that this lack of specificity is a problem - psychiatry is rapidly moving to diagnosis based on the underlying pathology which cuts across symptom based diagnostic labels.
 

Snowdrop

Rebel without a biscuit
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2,933
psychiatry is rapidly moving to diagnosis based on the underlying pathology which cuts across symptom based diagnostic labels.

Wow.
That change can't come too soon. :thumbsup::thumbsup:
 

Snowdrop

Rebel without a biscuit
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2,933
I don't know a lot about this subject but I'd like to ask if there is any research available that might tell us if there are any of these SNP's that act as protective factors that would mitigate any of the SNP's being looked at as contributing factors to ME? Perhaps that might further help us see a difference between us and the controls?
 

Marco

Grrrrrrr!
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Snowdrop

Rebel without a biscuit
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2,933
@Marco
I would like to have a look. Thank you.

Edit: Just read the NYT article. Really good news. A bit off topic but from that article, by extension we can conclude that neurasthenia is impossible to diagnose from symptoms.
Alegria should wait to find it's biological markers to be confident in her conclusions.
If only.
 
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A.B.

Senior Member
Messages
3,780
psychiatry is rapidly moving to diagnosis based on the underlying pathology which cuts across symptom based diagnostic labels.

Wow.
That change can't come too soon. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

So it will no longer be psychiatry but simply medicine? The concept of mental illness implies symptoms unexplainable in terms of physical illness. When a physical cause is found, it's no longer a mental illness. With no mental illnesses, there's no psychiatry.
 

Snowdrop

Rebel without a biscuit
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2,933
Yes, the term will become a misnomer.
But in the tradition of Humpty Dumpty psychiatry can can come to mean something completely different ~ a useful branch of medicine treating real illness with treatments that get to the root of the biological processes involved.
What a world that would be. :alien: