Funding award: Exploring an anti-citrullinated antibody signature in ME/CFS

[Andy]

Background and aim
Prof. Mercedes Rincon is Professor of Medicine at the University of Vermont, and the research group she heads is interested in the molecular mechanisms underlying autoimmune diseases. Prof. Rincon also has an interest in ME/CFS, and her co-investigators include Prof. David Maughan, whose wife, Cathleen, has had the illness for the last twenty years.

Spurred on by this personal involvement, the group has conducted previous research looking at the immunological basis of ME/CFS, including the detection of specific autoantibodies that target citrullinated proteins. Their new study, funded by ME Research UK, aims to confirm these preliminary findings in a larger group of patients.

http://www.meresearch.org.uk/our-research/anti-citrullinated-antibody/

 

[Estherbot]

The chemical conversion of arginine to citrulline, known as citrullination or deimination.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citrullination

In rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases, such as psoriatic arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus and Sjögren's syndrome, autoantibodies often attack citrullinated proteins.

citrullination seems to be part of the mechanism that stimulates the immune system in autoimmune disease

 

[NelliePledge]

So are these researchers new to ME research?