Not many mecfs research papers cheer me up, but this one does. It is both refreshingly frank about the serious limitation of existing biomarker research (how many potential biomarkers have been trumpeted and come to naught in the last decade alone?) and a serious attempt to raise standards, for better results in future. Thanks to all the authors.
The European ME/CFS Biomarker Landscape project: an initiative of the European network EUROMENE | Journal of Translational Medicine
Conclusions
Heterogeneity of biomarker studies with different case definitions, low number of patients, lack of matched control groups, missing validation studies and potentially subgroup heterogeneity are possible reasons why no diagnostic biomarkers are available yet. Further, as result of the low amount of funding in CFS/ME research few and often small studies were performed so far. Therefore, strategies to improve the quality and to facilitate the comparability of biomarker studies are needed (summarized in Table
3). This starts with well-defined patient cohorts using strict case definitions [
47], standardized and quantitative symptom assessment for subgroup analyses, well-defined age- and sex-matched controls, and large enough cohort size and a predefined hypothesis to power the statistical analysis. Detailed description of cohorts, assays performed and results achieved are important to facilitate confirmation studies. Reproducing results in cohorts from different countries, developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for assays, and multi-center studies are important steps for evaluating the suitability of biomarkers of interest as diagnostic markers. The building of translational networks of clinical and basic research groups like promoted in EUROMENE is an important first step to achieve such goals. Finally, to promote research it is crucial to increase funding for ME/CFS which is currently still far below the budget funds for most other serious diseases in both the EU and the US funding agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) [
48].
