Are you surprised?
Researchers might have found evidence that chronic fatigue syndrome is a real and legitimate neurological condition.
A pilot study published in the open access journal BMC Neurology
reveals that patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have a set of
proteins in their spinal cord fluid that were not detected in healthy
individuals. These proteins might give insight into the causes of CFS,
and could be used as markers to diagnose patients with CFS.James Baraniuk and Begona Casado, from Georgetown University
in the US, and colleagues from other institutions in the US and Italy,
studied the content of the spinal cord fluid, or ‘cerebrospinal fluid’,
in CFS patients and healthy individuals. This fluid can be tested for
the diagnosis of various neurological diseases and infections. The
researchers identified 16 proteins that can be found in patients with
CFS but not in healthy individuals. Five of these proteins are found in
all CFS patients but none of the controls. They could be a
‘biosignature’ for the disease, which could be used to diagnose it.This is a pilot study, but Baraniuk et al. conclude that "this is
the first predictive model of chronic fatigue syndrome to be based only
on objective data". They add: "Given the controversy over whether CFS
and its allied syndromes are legitimate medical conditions, our model
provides initial objective evidence for the legitimacy of CSF as a
distinct neurological disease."Many of the proteins found in CFS patients are involved in protein
folding and in various neurological syndromes, which might give clues
regarding the origin of chronic fatigue syndrome.
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