ME Research UK announce funding for "The effect of activated HERVs and the associated immune response in severe ME/CFS"

Andy

Andy

Retired committee member
Prof. Oltra’s hypothesis is that epigenetic changes cause activation of HERVs, which then leads to an innate immune response and the resulting flu-like symptoms and autoimmune problems that are characteristic of ME/CFS.

In her study funded by ME Research UK, she plans to identify HERVs that are overexpressed in a group of 12 women with severe ME/CFS compared with a matched group of women with fibromyalgia.

The team will also look at the effects of activation of these ME-associated HERVs on nerve and muscle cells in laboratory conditions, to understand their potential impact on the symptoms of the illness.

The results will then be validated in an extended group of 50 women with ME/CFS, 25 with fibromyalgia, and 25 healthy control subjects.
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https://www.meresearch.org.uk/research/activated-hervs-and-immune-response/
 
Prof. Oltra’s hypothesis is that epigenetic changes cause activation of HERVs, which then leads to an innate immune response and the resulting flu-like symptoms and autoimmune problems that are characteristic of ME/CFS
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Some sort of atypical autoimmune problems may well be going in ME, or in subgroups of ME, but calling them characteristic of ME seems to be overstating the current evidence.

As far as I can make out this study starts at step 2 of the above hypothesis, i.e. it asks the question if there is increased activation of HERVs in ME. It doesn't seem to address step 1, i.e. what is causing the epigenetic changes purportedly causing HERV activation. Has this been addressed in other studies already? Or are they working on the basis that if they find no HERV activation there's no point in looking for epigenetic changes, and if they do find HERV activation they can then look for epigenetic changes at that point?
she plans to identify HERVs that are overexpressed in a group of 12 women with severe ME/CFS compared with a matched group of women with fibromyalgia.
[...]
The results will then be validated in an extended group of 50 women with ME/CFS, 25 with fibromyalgia, and 25 healthy control subjects
Click to expand...
Interesting cohort set-up, starting with comparing severe ME and FM rather than the usual HC.
 
I am very curious about the FM control group. There is a great deal of overlap between the 2 diseases, so one would have to ensure that the FM group is not either misdiagnosed or living with both, including PEM.

it is not unheard of that at the family practice level, physicians calls ME fibromyalgia due to the lack of knowledge.
 
Ravn said:
As far as I can make out this study starts at step 2 of the above hypothesis, i.e. it asks the question if there is increased activation of HERVs in ME. It doesn't seem to address step 1, i.e. what is causing the epigenetic changes purportedly causing HERV activation. Has this been addressed in other studies already? Or are they working on the basis that if they find no HERV activation there's no point in looking for epigenetic changes, and if they do find HERV activation they can then look for epigenetic changes at that point?
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I suspect #2 is probably significantly easier to do than #1, hence the reason for doing it that way around – though #1 may be a much more revealing question.
 
ME Research UK:


Dr Elisa Oltra at the Catholic University of Valencia has recently completed her ME Research UK-funded study looking at the link between HERVs and ME/CFS. She published early results from the study back in 2022:
https://www.meresearch.org.uk/research/persistent-herv-expression-in-patients-with-post-covid-symptoms/

https://twitter.com/user/status/1775810542302867843
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This is on a long Covid study that used ME Research UK funding; see:
https://www.meresearch.org.uk/human-endogenous-retroviruses-hervs-and-long-covid/
 
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