Queensland Government: Gold Coast researchers make chronic fatigue breakthrough

[alex3619]

Okay, "A big molecule", "protein", "A protein complex" is not as specific as Alex was implying. (and a protein/protein complex is what most of us would guess anyway).

You also need to read the clarifying comments. Its confirmed he used some kind of filter. The exact details are not available.

 

[FMMM1]

You also need to read the clarifying comments. Its confirmed he used some kind of filter. The exact details are not available.

Thanks Alex.

Once you've identified the plasma fraction which contains the compound(s) which turns the cells off, then presumably you could run it on a mass spectrometer (MS) to identify what's present. This team have published a lot of MS metabolmics data so they have delivered this before. Jonas Bergquist and others have published data re proteins in plasma and cerebro spinal fluid (CSF) so there has been other characterisation work which may be useful. I think Jonas's group concentrate on CSF since it is more difficult to measure the levels of neurotransmitters in plasma; this suggests that it may be challenging to find this compound(s) in plasma.

One problem would appear to be finding reference compounds. I don't suppose you can order all of them online! Also, if two or more compounds are required to turn the cells off then the complexity increases considerably.

All the above has been done umpteen times before; therefore, I agree with Ron Davis i.e. they should be able to identify the compound(s) which are turning cells off.

It seems like they are making progress re the identification of the signalling compound(s) is there a receptor?

 

[alex3619]

Let me point out that without knowing the size of the molecule he is detecting we cannot yet rule out autoantibodies.

 

[Jigsaw]

@nandixon

NK cell activity is consistently found to be low in most ME/CFS patients under those uniform testing conditions.

If it helps, I believe IP6 stimulates NK cell production and activity.

I don't remember where I put the research I found about this, but I thought it convincing enough at the time and used it when I was being treated for breast cancer in 2007/8/9.

I don't remember any specific NK testing during chemo and my use of IP6, but my weekly blood tests showed my WBCs were collectively and consistently higher than my baseline WBCs had been pre-chemo and pre-IP6 use. I might see if I can find my old tests and check if NK cells were specifically tested. It seems likely.

To be fair, I was also juicing organic carrots and apples every day, too, plus paying attention to diet and nutrition, which may or may not have contributed to my WBCs not collapsing from the typical devastation that chemo is known to cause to them.

Neutropenic sepsis, where the WBCs are so low (specificaly the neutrophils) that the lack of immune defence causes systemic infection to set in, and the chemo patient ends up in an isolation side-room with IV antibs for 5-7 days, was NOT something I wanted to happen to me.

Just a thought

 

[FMMM1]

Let me point out that without knowing the size of the molecule he is detecting we cannot yet rule out autoantibodies.

Hi Alex,
I came across the following paper published in December 2016: "Humoral Immunity Profiling of Subjects with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Using a Random Peptide Microarray Differentiates Cases from Controls with High Specificity and Sensitivity".
The following is from the Discussion section of the paper:
"When this sequence is considered in isolation, we have observed it within several other proteins, in particular, the bacteria genus Burkholderia and also in the human protein calcium voltage-gated channel protein CACNA2D3 (Table 2). Further studies will be required to identify with greater certainty the native antigen to this conserved motif."

I assume this is potentially an indication of an autoimmune response to a sequence associated with a calcium voltage-gated channel protein.

Jonathan Edwards grateful for your views (perhaps you have already dealt with this elsewhere).