“When it comes to CFS, researchers have focused on a range of different tissues, organs, and mechanisms, but we're one of the first teams to look specifically at changes in skeletal muscle stem cells,” says Cheng.
News Medical
Extracts
Cheng is part of an international team of researchers who recently received funding from the National Institutes of Health to explore molecular- and cellular-level changes in muscle tissue that could potentially lead to better diagnostic tools and therapeutic options for both CFS and related conditions, such as long COVID.
“When it comes to CFS, researchers have focused on a range of different tissues, organs, and mechanisms, but we're one of the first teams to look specifically at changes in skeletal muscle stem cells,” says Cheng. “And we're using a multidisciplinary approach so we can look at those changes from the molecular level, the subcellular organelle level, and the cellular level.”
The long-term goal, says Cheng, is to create noninvasive diagnostic tools.
Comment from Dr Charles Shepherd:
There are now several research groups in different parts of the world looking at various abnormalities that are found in ME/CFS and using them to try and develop a diagnostic test or biomarker for the disease.
This is a vital part of the research agenda along with research into cause and treatment of ME/CFS.
To be effective a biomarker that is going to be used as a diagnostic test for ME/CFS has to be both specific and sensitive.
This means the test has to be positive in ME/CFS and not in any other medical conditions. It also needs to be positive in a very high percentage – preferably 100% – of people with ME/CFS.
This is not an easy task to achieve.
Here in the UK the MEA Ramsay Research Fund is funding two biomarker research studies at the Universities of Oxford and Surrey – where both groups are making good progress.
So it is encouraging to learn about this new American initiative that is being funded by NIH, and which will be looking for molecular abnormalities in skeletal muscle in relation to both diagnostic markers and also hopefully adding to our existing knowledge about mitochondrial dysfunction in ME/CFS.
But it is very disappointing when a research group just uses the term CFS and makes no reference to ME!
Dr Charles Shepherd,
Trustee and Hon. Medical Adviser to the ME Association,
Member of the 2018-2021 NICE guideline on ME/CFS committee,
Member of the 2002 Chief Medical Officer's Working Group on ME/CFS
More Information:
- Research: Biomarkers for ME/CFS: A Systemic Review | May 25th 2023