ME Research UK have announced they are funding Prof Chris Ponting at the University of Edinburgh in a new study investigating the use of blood based biomarkers in diagnosing ME/CFS.
Extracts:
Developing an accurate and reliable diagnostic test for ME/CFS is one of the holy grails of research into this disease, and was identified as a priority by the ME/CFS Priority Setting Partnership in 2022.
Prof. Chris Ponting and his team at the University of Edinburgh believe a promising diagnostic approach may be to measure the levels of different proteins in the blood, which can be done accurately and cheaply.
A blood test for ME/CFS needs to be relatively inexpensive and non-invasive, and be repeatable in order to measure responses to treatment.
In a previous study, the team identified more than two hundred proteins whose blood levels differed significantly between people with ME/CFS and control subjects without ME/CFS. Many of these were replicated and were significant both for females and males. and, importantly, could not be explained by inactivity.
While no single protein marker is sufficient on its own to distinguish between people with ME/CFS and those without, a combination of markers (or panel) might be used to form an effective diagnostic test.
MEA Comment
There are now a number of research studies in various stages of development which are trying to find blood based diagnostic biomarkers for ME/CFS.
The MEA Ramsay Reseach Fund is funding three separate studies and the ME Biobank, which we also fund, is providing blood samples and anonymised clinical data to research groups all over the world who are involved in biomarker research.
At the moment there are a number of promising leads emerging and I hope that this new study from Professor Chris Ponting will provide some useful additional information.
However, this sort of complex research takes time. So it's unlikely that a properly validated and accurate diagnostic blood marker for ME/CFS is going to be available for routine clinical use in the near future.
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
