A select number of answers from the
FAQs that might address recent discussion points.
Q. Do these results mean everyone with ME/CFS has one or all of these genetic differences?
A. No, these findings are based on large-scale patterns across the thousands of people with ME/CFS that we studied. They show that, on average, people with ME/CFS are more likely to have these differences than people without ME/CFS. These signals are about what we can see across populations, not individuals.
Q. Are these findings unique to ME or have they been found in other illnesses?
A. The signals we have found are different from those found in other illnesses to date, except for the one on chromosome 17 that was previously found in people experiencing chronic pain.
Q. Can these results lead to treatments for ME/CFS being developed?
A. DecodeME’s purpose was to gain an understanding of the biological roots of ME/CFS and how genetics could contribute to developing the condition. By identifying genes linked to the immune system and the nervous system, the study opens the door for scientists to explore what’s going wrong in ME/CFS at a molecular level. This deeper understanding could, in time, lead to treatments that target the root causes of the illness.
Q. What happens next with the study?
A. Although the initial results of DecodeME are now available, we are not finished. We’ll continue to analyse the genetic data, and we will update our scientific paper as needed before it is peer reviewed and published. We also have a detailed and valuable dataset from the second questionnaire that focused on symptoms, quality of life, treatments and therapies. We will be analysing and reporting on this in due course.
Our work doesn’t end there. Approved researchers will be able to use the data of those who consented through our data access process, helping to catalyse new studies and discoveries.
Q. What happens next for ME/CFS research?
A. The DecodeME findings are a springboard for future ME/CFS research. Now that we’ve identified genetic signals linked to ME/CFS, researchers can start investigating exactly what’s happening in the body – for example, by specialist scientists delving deeper into each genetic region found. These discoveries open new avenues for research, potential drug development or repurposing, and targeted treatments. DecodeME’s findings have laid the groundwork for a new era of ME/CFS research, and our rich dataset is available for data access applications and is already driving new discoveries forward.
