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Epstein-Barr Virus Induced Gene-2 Upregulation Identifies a Particular Subtype of ME/CFS

Murph

:)
Messages
1,799
Epstein-Barr Virus Induced Gene-2 Upregulation Identifies a Particular Subtype of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
Jonathan R. Kerr*
  • Department of Microbiology, West Suffolk Hospital Foundation Trust, Bury St Edmunds, United Kingdom
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is a chronic multisystem disease characterized by a variety of symptoms, and exhibits various features of an autoimmune-like disease. Subtypes are well recognized but to date are difficult to identify objectively. The disease may be triggered by infection with a variety of micro-organisms, including Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).

A subset of CFS/ME patients exhibit up regulation of EBV virus induced gene 2 (EBI2) mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), and these patients appear to have a more severe disease phenotype and lower levels of EBNA1 IgG. EBI2is induced by EBV infection and has been found to be upregulated in a variety of autoimmune diseases. EBI2 is a critical gene in immunity and central nervous system function; it is a negative regulator of the innate immune response in monocytes.

Its heterogeneous expression in CFS/ME could explain the variable occurrence of a variety of immune and neurological abnormalities which are encountered in patients with CFS/ME. The EBI2 subtype occurred in 38–55% CFS/ME patients in our studies.

Further work is required to confirm the role of EBV and of EBI2 and its oxysterol ligands in CFS/ME, and to identify the most practical means to identify patients of the EBI subtype. There are two EBI2 antagonists currently in development, and these may hold promise in the treatment of CFS/ME patients of the EBI subtype.

fulltext: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fped.2019.00059/full
 

J.G

Senior Member
Messages
162
Well, this is interesting. My illness started with EBV. I am positive for EBV IgG. Yet I have no anti-EBNA IgG. They were literally "not detected" on my EBV screen. I pondered the significance of this a few years ago and scribbled down the following notes / questions. I posted these in various places on the internet hoping for an answer, but nobody seemed to know:

"So Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV). I’m far from a microbiologist, but since learning a bit about this virus in recent times, I’ve had a nagging, unanswered question about EBNA IgG antibodies floating around the back of my mind.

So basically, I read from various sources that EBNA IgG antibodies normally appear between 2-4 months after onset of symptoms (e.g. here). However, in a small percentage of patients these EBNA IgG antibodies remain undetectable post-infection. In other words, these patients appear to not develop EBNA IgG antibodies at all.

My question is: Do we know why this is the case, and do we possess clues to its significance? I ask since EBV is a known trigger for various diseases such as dysautonomia (e.g. POTS) and post-viral fatigue / chronic fatigue syndrome, yet we don’t have a good grasp of the mechanisms whereby this happens. Has anyone investigated if the absence of EBNA antibodies correlates with EBV-induced chronic illness? Is that a topic that we should be looking into?"
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
Great to see Dr Jonathan Kerr back on the case again with his research into viruses and ME/CFS.
 
Messages
27
Thread about the same study:
EBV subtype 'gene' found in ME/CFS

Dr. Chia seems to prescribe Cimetidine:
https://www.healthrising.org/blog/2016/08/12/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-fibromyalgia-recovery-lerner/
Carollynn: Hi–Chia prescribeed Cimetidine because of two of its actions: it keeps Acyclovir in the system longer and tips the immune system more toward Th1 because I am so Th2 dominant.

I also remember articles about cimetidine and EBV by Dr. Jay Goldstein.

Med Hypotheses. 2016 Apr 9. pii: S0306-9877(16)30007-X. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2016.03.015. [Epub ahead of print]
Cimetidine as a novel adjunctive treatment for early stage Lyme disease.
Shemenski J1.

Vaccine. 2011 Jun 24;29(29-30):4862-8. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2011.03.091. Epub 2011 Apr 8.
Cimetidine augments Th1/Th2 dual polarized immune responses to recombinant HBV antigens.
Zhang W1, Wang J, Su B, Li R, Ding Z, Kang Y, Wang B.
 
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