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DNA sequencing study to help pinpoint biology of ME gets £4.7m

DNA sequencing study to help pinpoint biology of ME gets £4.7m

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The UK government has given nearly £5 million to fund full sequencing of the DNA of 6,000 people with ME using the best available technology. This will help scientists home in on what is really driving the disease. And will probably be the biggest study of its kind for any disease. The UK government has committed £4.7 million directly to ME/CFS research through an award from its Office for Life Sciences to the landmark study Sequence ME & Long Covid….

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ME/CFS onset has two peaks, which may be a clue to causes

ME/CFS onset has two peaks, which may be a clue to causes

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A new study strengthens the findings that ME/CFS is a disease with a highly unusual feature. Analysis of survey data on patients across Europe found there are two peak ages for getting ME/CFS, around 16 and the late 30s – a rare bimodal pattern. There are differences between people in the two peaks. Those in the early peak are more likely to report an infectious onset, be more severely ill, and have close relatives with ME/CFS. That combination of age…

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DecodeME: X marks the spot where ME/CFS biology can be discovered

DecodeME: X marks the spot where ME/CFS biology can be discovered

Scientists, people with ME/CFS, and their charities came together to create DecodeME, the world’s biggest ME/CFS study – and its results are striking. 18,000 people with ME/CFS gave their DNA, enabling DecodeME to reveal eight genetic signals for the illness. These signals indicate that immune and neurological processes play a significant role in ME/CFS. I wrote this blog for DecodeME and repost it here under a CC-BY licence. Why a DNA study? We know little about the biology of ME/CFS,…

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Remarkable researchers hunting for ‘something in the blood’ of people with ME

Remarkable researchers hunting for ‘something in the blood’ of people with ME

Several small and quite different ME/CFS studies have come up with the same tantalising finding – and now a team of two very talented resarchers, one a patient, are embarking on a robust replication that could help move the whole field forward. The finding? That if you take blood from people with ME/CFS, and add it to healthy cells grown in the lab, it changes the cells’ behaviour, while blood from healthy people does not. This could be a major…

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New study links 14 genes to ME/CFS

New study links 14 genes to ME/CFS

A study has analysed existing genetic data in a new way to link 14 genes to ME/CFS and identify many patient subgroups. If the new approach pans out, it could transform ME research and turbocharge the development of treatments. Paper: Genetic Risk Factors for ME/CFS Identified Using Combinatorial Analysis Authors: Sayoni Das, Krystyna Taylor, James Kozubek, Jason Sardell, Steve Gardner The paper has been submitted to a scientific journal and is being considered for publication. For now, the submitted draft…

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Norwegians publish the biggest ME DNA study yet and show we need even bigger studies

Norwegians publish the biggest ME DNA study yet and show we need even bigger studies

A Norwegian team has published the largest analysis yet to look for DNA differences that could pinpoint what goes wrong in ME (also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, CFS). Such differences would be a first step toward finding effective treatments. Unfortunately, the new study doesn’t find any DNA differences that reach the accepted standard for statistical significance. Even so, as Professor Chris Ponting and I comment in a companion piece, their paper helps to move forward the field of ME…

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