title: Gene expression profiles of fatigued fibromyalgia patients with different categories of pain and catastrophizing: a preliminary report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic condition characterized by diffused musculoskeletal pain and overwhelming fatigue.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To compare the gene expression profiles of fatigued FM women with different levels of pain and catastrophizing.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nine women with FM enrolled in an active Medstar Research Institute protocol were included in the gene expression analyses of peripheral blood RNA via Affymetrix GeneChip Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 array (Santa Clara, CA). Scores from Brief Pain Inventory, Pain Catastrophizing Scale, and Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory categorized the nine participants into pain (high, n = 3; low, n = 6) and catastrophizing groups (high, n = 5; low, n = 4).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Differential expression of 107 genes between the high and low pain groups and 139 genes between the high and low catastrophizing groups (over 2.0-fold change, p < .05) were observed. Network analyses showed interferon signaling and interferon regulatory activation factor pathways distinguished between the pain groups whereas dendritic cell maturation delineated between the catastrophizing groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings provide preliminary evidence that specific physiological pathways may possibly delineate pain and catastrophizing mechanisms. Further investigation via the use of a larger and more homogenous sample is warranted.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Nursing Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. nada.lukkahatai@nih.gov
authors.forename: Nada
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lukkahatai
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Majors
authors.forename: Swarnalatha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Walitt
authors.forename: Leorey N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Saligan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D058443:Catastrophization / Q000235:genetics*; D005221:Fatigue / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005356:Fibromyalgia / Q000235:genetics*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010146:Pain / Q000235:genetics*
keywords: Catastrophizing; Fatigue; Fibromyalgia; Gene expression; Microarray; Pain