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PLEAESE COMMENT AFTER YOU WATCH THIS VIDEO. The video is about an athlete with CFS who fully recovered. NOT typical!
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Study Supports Autoimmune Disease Theory
(ABCNEWS.com)
By KATIE MOISSE
Oct. 24, 2011
A new study supports the theory that chronic fatigue syndrome is
anautoimmune disease, offering patients with the controversial
condition new hope for a cure.
Two injections of the cancer drug Rituximab, which suppresses the
immune system, relieved chronic fatigue symptoms in 10 of 15 patients
several months later, according to a small Norwegian clinical trial.
The drug works by depleting the body's B-cells, lymphocytes that
release antibodies important for fighting infections. It has also been
shown to relieve symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, another autoimmune
disease.
The study suggests antibodies might be misguidedly attacking patients'
own tissues in chronic fatigue syndrome, and that the delayed relief
from Rituximab is linked to the "gradual elimination of
autoantibodies," ystein Fluge of Haukeland University Hospital in
Bergen, Norway, and colleagues wrote in the journal PLoS One.
The trial stemmed from a fluky finding: A patient taking Rituximab
fornon-Hodgkin's lymphoma experienced an unexpected decrease in
chronic fatigue symptoms. The researchers have now launched a phase 2
clinical trial that will incorporate "maintenance" Rituximab
injections three to 15 months after the initial treatment.
The autoimmune theory of chronic fatigue syndrome was bolstered by a
2009 study that linked the condition to a virus called XMRV. But the
study was knocked down last month when nine independent labs failed to
replicate the findings, leaving chronic fatigue patients -- many of
whom battle skepticism about their condition -- still searching for
answers.
For Becky Blanton, a freelance journalist in Richmond, Va., the virus
link made sense. She fought what she thought was the flu two months
before her diagnosis. And in the 19 years since, her symptoms have
relapsed and remitted like those of multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune
disease thought by some to be triggered by an infection.
"I'm still convinced it's a virus," Blanton told ABCNews.com at the time.
So are several researchers. Although the authors of the Norwegian
study failed to find evidence of a XMRV infection in their study
subjects, an unknown virus could be triggering an autoimmune reaction.
Guillain-Barre syndrome, a paralytic autoimmune disease caused by
antibodies attacking the nervous system, can be triggered by a virus.
Dr. Michael Busch, professor of laboratory medicine at University of
California, San Francisco, and lead author of the XMRV knockdown
study, said he hopes the research effort spurred by the wayward
finding will continue.
"A lot of new groups are searching and a lot of patients have stepped
forward to try to identify a new virus," Busch told ABCNews.com at the
time.
Kim McCleary, president and CEO of the Chronic Fatigue and Immune
Dysfunction Syndrome Association of America, echoed Busch's optimism.
"We're determined to translate the heightened attention and deeper
engagement XMRV has attracted into sustainable progress," McCleary
said. "There are many other solid leads that merit the same rigorous
follow-up as XMRV has received over the past two years."
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellne...s-autoimmune-disease-theory/story?id=14801908
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Study Supports Autoimmune Disease Theory
(ABCNEWS.com)
By KATIE MOISSE
Oct. 24, 2011
A new study supports the theory that chronic fatigue syndrome is
anautoimmune disease, offering patients with the controversial
condition new hope for a cure.
Two injections of the cancer drug Rituximab, which suppresses the
immune system, relieved chronic fatigue symptoms in 10 of 15 patients
several months later, according to a small Norwegian clinical trial.
The drug works by depleting the body's B-cells, lymphocytes that
release antibodies important for fighting infections. It has also been
shown to relieve symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, another autoimmune
disease.
The study suggests antibodies might be misguidedly attacking patients'
own tissues in chronic fatigue syndrome, and that the delayed relief
from Rituximab is linked to the "gradual elimination of
autoantibodies," ystein Fluge of Haukeland University Hospital in
Bergen, Norway, and colleagues wrote in the journal PLoS One.
The trial stemmed from a fluky finding: A patient taking Rituximab
fornon-Hodgkin's lymphoma experienced an unexpected decrease in
chronic fatigue symptoms. The researchers have now launched a phase 2
clinical trial that will incorporate "maintenance" Rituximab
injections three to 15 months after the initial treatment.
The autoimmune theory of chronic fatigue syndrome was bolstered by a
2009 study that linked the condition to a virus called XMRV. But the
study was knocked down last month when nine independent labs failed to
replicate the findings, leaving chronic fatigue patients -- many of
whom battle skepticism about their condition -- still searching for
answers.
For Becky Blanton, a freelance journalist in Richmond, Va., the virus
link made sense. She fought what she thought was the flu two months
before her diagnosis. And in the 19 years since, her symptoms have
relapsed and remitted like those of multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune
disease thought by some to be triggered by an infection.
"I'm still convinced it's a virus," Blanton told ABCNews.com at the time.
So are several researchers. Although the authors of the Norwegian
study failed to find evidence of a XMRV infection in their study
subjects, an unknown virus could be triggering an autoimmune reaction.
Guillain-Barre syndrome, a paralytic autoimmune disease caused by
antibodies attacking the nervous system, can be triggered by a virus.
Dr. Michael Busch, professor of laboratory medicine at University of
California, San Francisco, and lead author of the XMRV knockdown
study, said he hopes the research effort spurred by the wayward
finding will continue.
"A lot of new groups are searching and a lot of patients have stepped
forward to try to identify a new virus," Busch told ABCNews.com at the
time.
Kim McCleary, president and CEO of the Chronic Fatigue and Immune
Dysfunction Syndrome Association of America, echoed Busch's optimism.
"We're determined to translate the heightened attention and deeper
engagement XMRV has attracted into sustainable progress," McCleary
said. "There are many other solid leads that merit the same rigorous
follow-up as XMRV has received over the past two years."
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellne...s-autoimmune-disease-theory/story?id=14801908
