title: Altered functional B cell subset populations in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome compared to healthy controls.
abstract: Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a heterogeneous disorder of unknown aetiology characterized by disabling fatigue, headaches, sleep disturbance and several other symptoms. The onset of CFS may follow a viral infection or period of stress. Patients with CFS do not have hypogammaglobulinaemia, predisposition to recurrent bacterial infections or symptoms of autoimmunity. To date, defects in B cell numbers or function have not been shown in the literature. However, treatment with anti-B cell therapy using Rituximab has recently shown benefit to CFS patients. We therefore postulated that patients with CFS had a subtle humoral immune dysfunction, and performed extended B cell immunophenotyping. We undertook a detailed characterization of the proportions of the different B cell subsets in 33 patients with CFS fulfilling the Canadian and Fukada criteria for CFS and compared these with 24 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HC). CFS patients had greater numbers of naive B cells as a percentage of lymphocytes: 6·3 versus 3·9% in HC (P = 0·034), greater numbers of naive B cells as a percentage of B cells: 65 versus 47% in controls (P = 0·003), greater numbers of transitional B cells: 1·8 versus 0·8% in controls (P = 0·025) and reduced numbers of plasmablasts: 0·5 versus 0·9% in controls (P = 0·013). While the cause of these changes is unclear, we speculate whether they may suggest a subtle tendency to autoimmunity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, St Helier University Hospital NHS Trust, Carshalton, Surrey, UK.
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Bansal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016175:B-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015673:Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D056724:Immunity, Humoral; D007136:Immunoglobulins / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D007136:Immunoglobulins