So how do we know they aren't underdetecting everything?
I wondered the same thing.
They say the test is not ready for commercialism yet, but that they are using it for research purposes
Ah! Thanks!
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So how do we know they aren't underdetecting everything?
They say the test is not ready for commercialism yet, but that they are using it for research purposes
Dr. Stephen J. Elledge
Department of Genetics
Harvard Medical School
The underlying cause of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is still unknown. We suspect that it is caused by a viral or bacterial infection, since the onset of CFS is often accompanied by a flu-like illness. We are studying this possibility by examining people’s antibodies.
Antibodies are substances that our body normally makes in response to an infection. Each antibody is capable of specifically recognizing a target. Antibodies can target a wide range of things, including viruses and bacteria. Once an antibody sees its target pathogen, it can activate a variety of mechanisms to kill and eliminate the pathogen. When we get an infection, we often generate antibodies that specifically target the virus or bacteria that caused the infection. After the infection is dealt with, our body keeps these antibodies around to protect us from future infections by the same pathogen.
We have developed a technology that reveals all the viruses targeted by the antibodies in a blood sample. This data allows us to determine what viruses people have been exposed to. We plan to use this technology to examine the blood from people with and without CFS in order to find viruses that are associated with CFS. We hope this study will identify a pathogen as a likely causative agent of the disease in order to focus future study.
We also have a related technology that reveals all the targets of autoantibodies in a blood sample. Occasionally, the immune system makes mistakes and generates autoantibodies, which are antibodies that recognize the body’s own cells. Autoantibodies can cause damage to the body’s own organs and are a sign of immune dysfunction. We also plan to apply this technology to the sample blood samples to look for evidence of immune dysfunction in people with CFS.
Interesting. I'd like to read more about that.Dr. Stephen J. Elledge said:We also have a related technology that reveals all the targets of autoantibodies in a blood sample. Occasionally, the immune system makes mistakes and generates autoantibodies, which are antibodies that recognize the body’s own cells. Autoantibodies can cause damage to the body’s own organs and are a sign of immune dysfunction. We also plan to apply this technology to the sample blood samples to look for evidence of immune dysfunction in people with CFS.
So how do we know they aren't underdetecting everything?
Might underdetection suggest that finding antibodies in blood might not be as definitive a test of exposure and/or infection as is believed? If we know nearly 100% of people are exposed to HHV3 (chicken pox) and that the virus remains in the body life-long, but blood testing for antibodies is only showing exposure in 24% of the population, then it might be reasonable to hypothesize that these infections are not reliably detectable via blood antibody titres.
Or their test has a long way to go before it's ready for the big leagues.
Yes, the test will only detect antibodies if they're present. My thoughts: If a significant subset of ME patients lack certain antibodies to common viruses, then perhaps that will be apparent from the data, and could potentially be a useful finding.