Gingergrrl - you can imagine my surprise when I read an email which stated that I had "read the whole paper --- and had a good grasp of it"! Then I noticed that your post was addressed to "Marky 90".
First of all I think Alex is correct i.e. this (autoimmunity) wasn't the research question.
I seems to recall something online from someone close to the Australian team (Griffith) that basically everyone has been barking up the wrong tree (infection - virus etc). Presumably they are saying that some people with ME/CFS have a faulty sensor (TRPM3) or other (-- calcium ion channelopathy?).
In terms of the cause (specifically autoimmunity affecting e.g. TRPM3) I've an interest. Angela Vincent (Oxford University) and S Irani published a paper re autoimmune forms of VGPC epilepsy. I.e. there were less common forms of the disease which were autoimmune. These autoimmune forms didn't respond to the normal medicines but responded to immunosuppressents. So possibly some forms of ME/CFS are caused by a faulty sensor (TRPM3) or other and a portion of these are autoimmune. Angela Vincent was interested in doing a comprehensive search for autoantibodies in ME/CFS; I'm not clear where that got to, but at least Vicky Whittemore (NIH) has promised to increase funding, so it may happen. Response to rituximab suggests autoimmunity but not everyone responds so perhaps only the responders have an autoimmune form.
PS if anyone bumps into the folks who decide what gets funded (i.e. politicians, policy makers etc) then perhaps they could have a word re funding a comprehensive search for autoantibodies.
First of all I think Alex is correct i.e. this (autoimmunity) wasn't the research question.
I seems to recall something online from someone close to the Australian team (Griffith) that basically everyone has been barking up the wrong tree (infection - virus etc). Presumably they are saying that some people with ME/CFS have a faulty sensor (TRPM3) or other (-- calcium ion channelopathy?).
In terms of the cause (specifically autoimmunity affecting e.g. TRPM3) I've an interest. Angela Vincent (Oxford University) and S Irani published a paper re autoimmune forms of VGPC epilepsy. I.e. there were less common forms of the disease which were autoimmune. These autoimmune forms didn't respond to the normal medicines but responded to immunosuppressents. So possibly some forms of ME/CFS are caused by a faulty sensor (TRPM3) or other and a portion of these are autoimmune. Angela Vincent was interested in doing a comprehensive search for autoantibodies in ME/CFS; I'm not clear where that got to, but at least Vicky Whittemore (NIH) has promised to increase funding, so it may happen. Response to rituximab suggests autoimmunity but not everyone responds so perhaps only the responders have an autoimmune form.
PS if anyone bumps into the folks who decide what gets funded (i.e. politicians, policy makers etc) then perhaps they could have a word re funding a comprehensive search for autoantibodies.