Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - Evidence for an autoimmune disease

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29635081

Autoimmun Rev. 2018 Apr 7. pii: S1568-9972(18)30088-0. doi: 10.1016/j.autrev.2018.01.009. [Epub ahead of print]
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - Evidence for an autoimmune disease.
Sotzny F1, Blanco J2, Capelli E3, Castro-Marrero J4, Steiner S1, Murovska M5, Scheibenbogen C6; European Network on ME/CFS (EUROMENE).
Author information

Abstract
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a frequent and severe chronic disease drastically impairing life quality. The underlying pathomechanism is incompletely understood yet but there is convincing evidence that in at least a subset of patients ME/CFS has an autoimmune etiology. In this review, we will discuss current autoimmune aspects for ME/CFS. Immune dysregulation in ME/CFS has been frequently described including changes in cytokine profiles and immunoglobulin levels, T- and B-cell phenotype and a decrease of natural killer cell cytotoxicity. Moreover, autoantibodies against various antigens including neurotransmitter receptors have been recently identified in ME/CFS individuals by several groups. Consistently, clinical trials from Norway have shown that B-cell depletion with rituximab results in clinical benefits in about half of ME/CFS patients. Furthermore, recent studies have provided evidence for severe metabolic disturbances presumably mediated by serum autoantibodies in ME/CFS. Therefore, further efforts are required to delineate the role of autoantibodies in the onset and pathomechanisms of ME/CFS in order to better understand and properly treat this disease.

KEYWORDS:
Autoantibodies; Autoimmune; Biomarker; Chronic Fatigue Syndrome; Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

PMID:

29635081

DOI:

10.1016/j.autrev.2018.01.009

 

I'm getting the impression that several groups wanted to publish a B cell autoimmunity paper in case of a positive Rituximab trial.

 

Shouldn't be really. Also, six days seems an incredibly short time for it to be accepted, does this mean it hasn't been peer reviewed? Is it exempt from that?

 

Yes. Although that answer is only based on what would have been the norm in respected physics journals 20 years ago, so in reality I've no idea. Seven days is a very short time, but I would imagine not impossible. Maybe those asked to review it didn't have anything better to do that week and got to it straight away. I would have required more time for procrastinating though.

 

Duplicate thread merged

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – Evidence for an autoimmune disease
FranziskaSotznyaon behalf of the European Network on ME/CFS (EUROMENE)
Autoimmunity Reviews
Volume 17, Issue 6, June 2018, Pages 601-609

I couldn’t find this anywhere here. If it already exists, mods please feel free to delete.

I found the conclusion interesting, in that it talks of Rituximab despite the null result (submitted Jan 2018):

 

The most recent clinical trial with rituximab wasn't encouraging. Am I missing something?

 

No, but it’s not published yet, so if you only look at published studies rtx still looks promising. Or they chose to ignore the phase III trial to promote their own view of ME as an autoimmune disease/autoimmune component.

 

The review was accepted on January 7th. So it may now be out of date.

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1026914002344001536