What I've learned so far...
The "Methylation Index" is probably the most important. My very
low SAM/SAH ratio indicates limited capacity for methylation (I believe this is called “
hypomethylation”). Or "
under-methylation".
As for some of the individual metrics....
High S-Adenosylhomocysteine (SAH)
- Increased levels results in increased oxidative stress, and may contribute to vascular disease, renal disease
Somewhat Low S-adenosylmethionine (SAM)
- Could be low because Methionine is low
Somewhat Low Methionine
- Gastrointestinal dysfunction
Somewhat High Cysteine
- Results in increased oxidative stress
Haven't found out what my other abnormal levels might indicate yet.
I also learned that often a low SAM can be the result of low Methionine. My results
appear to reflect this. And that if you're supplementing for this, take more Methionine than SAM (according to what I've read).
Regarding Hypomethylation and ME/CFS
A
2018 article suggests that my "
limited capacity for methylation" is spot-on w/ ME/CFS
"Data from the microarray-based genome-wide methylation analysis of the experimental cohort showed hypomethylation of the differentially methylated sites (DMS) (98%) in PBMCs from ME/CFS cases compared to controls."
I've also seen some connections here with immune dysregulation. For instance,
DNA methylation regulates T cell perforin gene expression.
I'm not sure if low intracellular perforin in ME/CFS has been proven yet. But low cytotoxicity of NK and Cytotoxic T-cells (CD8+) has for sure been proven in ME/CFS. Perforin expression is key for cytotoxicity. Cytotoxicity is key for an effective immune response to infection.
There are more implications. I just haven't looked into this enough yet. Obviously, there's the tie-in w/ Rich Van Konynenburg's
Methylation cycle hypothesis, which sounds less silly to me these days.
And yes, I am looking into how this ties in with my autoimmune theories. Haven't looked into this much yet, but I do believe autoimmunity is involved in this. In fact I've already made note of the following suspects:
anti-citrullinated protein antibodies,
anti-chromatin, and
anti-C1q antibodies (<<<< this is
from EBV btw)
