title: Exploring the diagnostic potential of immune biomarker coexpression in Gulf War Illness.
abstract: Complex disorders like Gulf War Illness (GWI) often defy diagnosis on the basis of a single biomarker and may only be distinguishable by considering the coexpression of multiple markers measured in response to a challenge. We demonstrate the practical application of such an approach using an example where blood was collected from 26 GWI, 13 healthy control subjects, and 9 unhealthy controls with Chronic Fatigue at three points during a graded exercise challenge. A 3-way multivariate projection model based on 12 markers of endocrine and immune function was constructed using a training set of n  =  10 GWI and n  =  11 healthy controls. These groups were separated almost completely on the basis of two coexpression patterns. In a separate test set these same features allowed for discrimination of new GWI subjects (n  =  16) from unhealthy (n  =  9) and healthy control subjects with a sensitivity of 70% and a specificity of 90%.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. gordon.broderick@ualberta.ca
authors.forename: Gordon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Broderick
authors.forename: Mary Ann
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Fletcher
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gallagher
authors.forename: Zachary
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.forename: Suzanne D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Vernon
authors.forename: Nancy G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Klimas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D005080:Exercise Test; D005221:Fatigue / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D047830:Gulf War; D006801:Humans; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008954:Models, Biological; D018923:Persian Gulf Syndrome / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D016207:Cytokines