Article: The role of mitochondria in ME/CFS: a perspective, 2019, Tomas and Elson

Andy

Andy

Retired committee member
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) also known as Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) is a debilitating disease, characterized by the symptom of severe fatigue. ME/CFS is a heterogeneous condition in both clinical presentation and disease duration. A diagnosis of ME/CFS is based on the exclusion of other diseases due to a current lack of known biomarkers for the disease. Patients may be split into categories based on the severity of their illness – mild, moderate and severe. Here we consider some of the recent advances in the understanding of mitochondrial dysfunction and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation that may have relevance to ME/CFS. Thus far, we have shown that ME/CFS patients do not harbor proven mtDNA mutations, another exclusion, albeit an important one. As such this group of patients do not fall within the category of patients with mitochondrial disorder. If ME/CFS patients have some form of mitochondrial dysfunction, the form and cause of this dysfunction is a matter of debate. The current data underlines the need to move from small studies to larger endeavors applying multiple methods to well-defined cohorts with samples taken longitudinally.
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Paywalled at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21641846.2019.1580855
Sci Hub, http://sci-hub.tw/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21641846.2019.1580855
 
"A diagnosis of ME/CFS is based on the exclusion of other diseases due to a current lack of known biomarkers for the disease. "

It is easy to make a positive diagnosis of ME, it is CFS and especially chronic fatigue that is a disease of exclusion. Biomarkers are not known for a lot of other diseases such as migraine and they are diagnosed by symptoms and signs. This sort of sloppy myth really annoys me.

If they would start with what is happening in ME and work from there instead of starting with known problems they might make more progress. We keep getting, well they don't have this, they don't have that but if they would look at the things that make us different instead of concentrating on nebulous fatigue they might get on better.
 
It's easy to make a diagnosis of M. E if doctors knew anything about it.. But they don't. I totally agree with you @Mithriel... I've often thought there are other illnesses with no biomarkers such as migraine and they can be diagnosed. Id diagnose M.E in 10 minutes because I know what the disease is as I live it every day.
 
Thanks for the link to the paper @Andy

Reading this I am drawn again to the plasma exchange experiments by Stanford on the nano-needle and Oxford/Karl Morten on the muscle cells. Those are pointing to something in the patients blood either being present or not being present that is causing the energy issue in cells. That's the only reason I can see that the energy testing on cells only had been inconclusive. I really hope MRC funds Karl Morten - his team has some great leads that need following up on.
 
yes, @wigglethemouse
with birds they seem looking at something like that, when i remember the story right...

in the bird wasting disease PDD they first figured the borna virus, but birds didnt drop dead when infected.
though, when tissue (brain) from ill birds was transferred, the healthy birds would die, too.

some researchers identified misfolded prions, more popular seems the spiroplasma bacteria
they have some trouble to show the bacteria in tests.
("Spiroplasma is a genus of Mollicutes, a group of small bacteria without cell walls")

prions may not show in rna/dna test at all (?), perhaps something like spiroplasma neither ?

im wondering, what davies and team (htester on phoenix) are really saying, when they couldnt find even "non human dna/rna".

would things like prions/spiroplasma have shown ?
they are infectious and detrimental.
 
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Mithriel said:
"A diagnosis of ME/CFS is based on the exclusion of other diseases due to a current lack of known biomarkers for the disease. "

It is easy to make a positive diagnosis of ME, it is CFS and especially chronic fatigue that is a disease of exclusion. Biomarkers are not known for a lot of other diseases such as migraine and they are diagnosed by symptoms and signs. This sort of sloppy myth really annoys me.
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In the United States, ME and CFS and ME/CFS (and SEID) are generally considered the same. ME and ME/CFS are becoming more common, while CFS and SEID seem to be declining in usage.

Regardless, in the US, ME/CFS is no longer a diagnosis of exclusion. It is a differential diagnosis that can coexist with other conditions.

Parkinson's is another example of a major disease without a biomarker.
 
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wigglethemouse said:
Thanks for the link to the paper @Andy

Reading this I am drawn again to the plasma exchange experiments by Stanford on the nano-needle and Oxford/Karl Morten on the muscle cells. Those are pointing to something in the patients blood either being present or not being present that is causing the energy issue in cells. That's the only reason I can see that the energy testing on cells only had been inconclusive. I really hope MRC funds Karl Morten - his team has some great leads that need following up on.
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So do I big time
 
This is a bit of an aside, but @Sunshine3, and @Webdog, thanks for the notations re diseases that don't have biomarkers. It would be interesting to have a list of diseases that medicine can diagnose without a biomarker.

I keep saying MS does not have a single biomarker - the aha! "Here is the biomarker for MS in the blood!"

With MS, more than one test needs to be done to confirm the diagnosis.
 
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