https://newatlas.com/medical/biomarker-alzheimers-protein-sleep-cycles-rhythm/
The research was about Alzheimer's plaques (probably because funding is available for that), but it focused on a protein and its effect on microglial cells.
“This YKL-40 protein probably serves as a modulator of the level of microglial activation in the brain,” Musiek says. “When you get rid of the protein, it appears the microglia are more activated to eat up the amyloid. It’s a subtle thing, a tweak in the system, but it seems to be enough to substantially reduce the total amyloid burden.”
What caught my eye was that it's 'a subtle thing'. ME doesn't seem to have any dramatic alterations in chemistry or cell characteristics, so it's likely something subtle. While YKL-40 may not be the culprit in ME, it may be something similar: one protein slightly more or less expressed, changing some cell function by just a few percent (and thus really hard to find), but that few percent in some critical brain cells could be enough to cause all the ME symptoms (via various downstream effects).
The research was about Alzheimer's plaques (probably because funding is available for that), but it focused on a protein and its effect on microglial cells.
“This YKL-40 protein probably serves as a modulator of the level of microglial activation in the brain,” Musiek says. “When you get rid of the protein, it appears the microglia are more activated to eat up the amyloid. It’s a subtle thing, a tweak in the system, but it seems to be enough to substantially reduce the total amyloid burden.”
What caught my eye was that it's 'a subtle thing'. ME doesn't seem to have any dramatic alterations in chemistry or cell characteristics, so it's likely something subtle. While YKL-40 may not be the culprit in ME, it may be something similar: one protein slightly more or less expressed, changing some cell function by just a few percent (and thus really hard to find), but that few percent in some critical brain cells could be enough to cause all the ME symptoms (via various downstream effects).