Chronic Fatigue : 17 inflammatory molecules would be involved

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Published the 02.08.2017 at 13h08

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Keywords :

fatigue chroniqueInflammationcytokines

The ESSENTIAL

The chronic fatigue syndrome affects 1 in 200 to 600 in the industrialized countries.
Three-quarters of the patients are female.
The syndrome strikes people at a young age, to 15-20 years and then to 30-35 years.
On average, symptoms persist for more than 10 years.
The patients suffer from signs of diffuse : cognitive disorders, indigestion, muscle pain…

The name of the syndrome, it sticks to the skin. Despite the symptoms disabling it causes the chronic fatigue is not really regarded as a disease. It must be said that its causes remain unknown, this does nothing. That time may be finite. A study from the university of Stanford (Usa), published in PNAS, suggests that the origin of the disease could be inflammatory.

As noted by one of the authors, Jose Montoya, signs of chronic fatigue syndrome are non-specific. But some of them evoke an inflammatory activity increased. The patients suffer, for example, cardiovascular diseases, muscle disorders or neurological disorders.

A specific profile

Jose Montoya has taken the blood of 192 patients suffering from this syndrome, in order to analyze the concentration of cytokines, proteins that are often associated with inflammation. Then the data were compared with those of 392 people in good health. And the results leave no doubt : the inflammation is more present in the presence of a chronic fatigue syndrome.

Scientists have found that, of the 51 cytokines analyzed, 2 have different concentrations in patients. The growth factor TGF-beta – activity of which is inflammatory in some cancers – is no longer present in their blood. Conversely, resistin is more rare.

But in total, 17 cytokines are associated with chronic fatigue syndrome. Their blood concentration influence the severity of the disease. Thus, we find less of the cytokines in the blood of persons suffering from a moderate form. “Our results clearly show that this condition is of inflammatory origin, which provides a sound basis for a diagnostic test of blood,” said Mark Davis, co-author of the work.