I see from
the link above that mTOR is big.
"Both mTOR complexes are large, with mTORC1 having six and mTORC2 seven known protein components."
(unfortunately Ron's 'filtering solves the problem' finding does not seem to fit with
@nandixon's mTor inihibition theory! That would've been neat.)
Everything still fits! The main thing that I’d originally observed is that the
Fluge & Mella study results appeared to show that the mTORC1 pathway leading to the PDH complex is under-activated or inhibited in ME/CFS, which is consistent with the involvement of mTOR that Dr Davis said in the video he'd already discovered is likely present. (This is a nice cross-confirmation between Dr Davis’s and Fluge & Mella’s work!)
Therefore, the filtering of the blood that appears to fix things could, for example, simply be removing an autoantibody or blocking agent directed against mTOR (or another component of the mTORC1 complex) or in fact one directed against any component in the multiple upstream pathways leading to mTOR/mTORC1 (e.g., ones running through Akt or Erk, etc).
The
Naviaux study additionally showed that sphingolipids (e.g., ceramides) are low in ME/CFS. The Fluge & Mella and Naviaux studies can fit together in at least two different ways, one in which the low ceramides are upstream of the inhibited PDH and the other in which they're downstream, and both possibilities are still perfectly viable.
In simple graphical terms, the two possibilities (assuming there is in fact a causal relationship between the inhibited PDH and the low ceramides) are:
1. ???--> Low ceramides--> Low S1P--> [S1PR1]--> Under-activated Akt/mTOR (mTORC1)--> Inhibited PDH complex
2. ???--> Under-activated Akt/mTOR (mTORC1)--> Inhibited PDH complex--> Low acetyl-CoA--> [Low palmitoyl-CoA]--> Low ceramides--> Low S1P
(An inhibited PDH causes energy impairment while impaired S1P signaling causes endothelial dysfunction and blood pressure/volume regulation problems; S1P = sphingosine-1-phosphate.)
Option #2 might be more preferred now that Dr Davis has indicated that there seems to be something present in ME/CFS blood that shouldn't be there. (Although I think he said in the video that he couldn't rule out a lack of something. Note that filtering out one thing could make something else that's lacking more effective.)