A gene signature for post-infectious chronic fatigue syndrome.
BACKGROUND
At present, there are no clinically reliable disease markers for chronic fatigue syndrome. DNA chip microarray technology provides a method for examining the differential expression of mRNA from a large number of genes. Our hypothesis was that a gene expression signature, generated by microarray assays, could help identify genes which are dysregulated in patients with post-infectious CFS and so help identify biomarkers for the condition.


METHODS
Human genome-wide Affymetrix GeneChip arrays (39,000 transcripts derived from 33,000 gene sequences) were used to compare the levels of gene expression in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of male patients with post-infectious chronic fatigue (n = 8) and male healthy control subjects (n = 7).


RESULTS
Patients and healthy subjects differed significantly in the level of expression of 366 genes. Analysis of the differentially expressed genes indicated functional implications in immune modulation, oxidative stress and apoptosis. Prototype biomarkers were identified on the basis of differential levels of gene expression and possible biological significance


CONCLUSIONS
Differential expression of key genes identified in this study offer an insight into the possible mechanism of chronic fatigue following infection. The representative biomarkers identified in this research appear promising as potential biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment.
Gow
John W
JW
Dept. of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, G4 0BA, UK. john.gow@gcal.ac.uk
Hagan
Suzanne
S
Herzyk
Pawel
P
Cannon
Celia
C
Behan
Peter O
PO
Chaudhuri
Abhijit
A