Tired, Sure, But Is It From Lyme Disease Or Chronic Fatigue?

In the February 25 Issue:

Tired, sure, but is it from Lyme disease or chronic fatigue?

A scan of spinal fluid proteins reveals distinct signatures for two conditions

By Nathan Seppa

March 26th, 2011; Vol.179 #7 (p. 12)

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MOLECULAR TELLTALESProteins in the spinal fluid may help diagnosis. This diagram depicts proteins found in three groups: people who have been treated for Lyme disease, chronic fatigue syndrome patients and healthy volunteers. While 1,605 proteins show up in all three groups (gray), 738 other proteins show up only in people with chronic fatigue syndrome (red) and 692 proteins crop up only in people in the Lyme group (green).Schutzer et al/PLoS One

Proteins found in the spinal fluid may serve as biomarkers to help doctors cut through the clutter of symptoms that show up in two groups of patients — those with chronic fatigue syndrome and others with lingering effects from Lyme disease. Different sets of proteins discovered in the two groups indicate these are distinct and distinguishable disorders and that both involve the central nervous system, researchers report in the February PLoS One.

“This provides strong evidence of a biological component” in these conditions, says study coauthor Steven Schutzer, a physician and immunologist at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, in Newark. “There are abnormalities in the spinal fluid, which is really a liquid window on the brain.” But he cautions that the findings represent a first step in seeking biomarkers for the conditions and don’t reveal whether these different protein signatures cause the syndromes or result from them.

Chronic fatigue is a baffling condition marked by prolonged and severe tiredness that isn’t resolved by rest. Its cause is unknown and is often difficult to diagnose and treat. Women are most commonly affected.

Lyme disease results from infection by Borrelia burgdorferi, a bacterium spread by deer ticks. It is treatable with antibiotics, but infections can go unnoticed, delaying treatment. Also, despite clearing the bacterial infection, some patients continue to have longer-term symptoms, including fatigue. Scientists have wondered whether such post-treatment Lyme problems are a form of chronic fatigue, but a connection has never been ascertained.

In the new study, Schutzer and his colleagues analyzed spinal fluid samples from three groups — 11 healthy people, 43 diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and 25 previously treated for Lyme disease but who were still experiencing cognitive problems and fatigue.

Analysis of the fluid samples detected more than 2,600 proteins in each group. Most of the proteins appeared in all three groups. But 692 proteins turned up only in the Lyme patients and 738 others showed up only in the chronic fatigue group.

Some of the condition-specific proteins may ultimately serve as biomarkers, Schutzer says. Identifying 20 or 30 proteins that show up consistently in a condition — but not in healthy people — could form the basis of a diagnostic test for the ailment.

“I think this a great first step,” says Joseph Breen, a biochemist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md. “What’s exciting is that it looks like they’ve been able to tease out differences” between groups of people with these conditions. This finding will need to be validated in more spinal fluid samples from greater numbers of people who have these conditions, he says. A test using blood samples would be even better, since blood is more easily obtained, Breen says.

The new data also provide leads for other researchers to investigate, such as discerning functional roles of proteins that show up in only one condition. This could shed light on the molecular biomechanisms underpinning symptoms seen in patients, Schutzer says.

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Comments 4

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"Chronic fatigue is a baffling condition marked by prolonged and severe tiredness that isn’t resolved by rest. Its cause is unknown and is often difficult to diagnose and treat."...really? Fatigue could be due to low minerals such as rbc magnesium or excess heavy metals. A simple rbc mineral assay costs $300. This is a likely cause of fatigue and is easily detectable and treatable.

thisiscrap@mailinator.com

Feb. 25, 2011 at 6:23pm
Thank You for reporting on this issue. Lyme Disease may very well end up being a viral and retroviral disease; the tick being the vector having jumped from the mammal.

Chronic Fatigue has been mislabled. Chronic fatigue is a disease that is in the "minds" of those that coined it 20+ years ago.However, this disease is not in the minds of those infected; it is in their bodies, brains and organs.

Patients that have been "labeled with Chronic Fatigue", as well as the scientists, researchers and clinicians studying these patients will gladly present over 5000+ scientific studies proving these patients have a nuerological and immunological disease.This is Biological and It is NOT a chronic fatigue by any means. Fatigue is only one symptom after total CNS and immune dysfunction occurs. Organ failure and death can follow.

The viruses and stealth co-infections that infect these patients can be deadly. Afflicted Patient population is across the board demographics in that it infects children, young adults, soldiers and civilians.

The rate of transmission is growingly/spreading rapidly and it it predicted that 6-10% of the population is infected. This is a Global epidemic.

The more you can report on this accurately, the better for the public.

Thank You.
Julia Rachel

Julia Rachel

Feb. 27, 2011 at 2:32am
I have a condition which includes 'chronic fatigue' as well as aches and pains. I feel like I worked hard the day before when I've done nothing strenuous. When I see a doctor, they take x rays, make a blood test which they ignore. Then the proscribe several painkillers and anti-inflammatories (which do nothing), then tell me to go away. Maybe chronic fatigue is due more to lazy doctors and less with an unusual condition.

Paul Etzler

Feb. 27, 2011 at 1:49pm
Chronic "Lyme" disease is oversimplified, as is Chronic Fatigue. Chronic Lyme (CLD) is not just Lyme; most patients suffering from CLD are infected with multiple infections ticks carry...Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Bartonellosis, Mycoplasmas, and Viruses. It is highly possible that the "fingerprint" of what has been characterized as chronic lyme disease involves one set of infections, and the "fingerprint" of chronic fatigue involves a different set of still tick-borne infections. Don't write them off as "so separate yet". For example, mycoplasmas and Babesiosis cause an incredible fatigue, other infections cause more constitutional symptoms. Things are a bit more complex than portrayed here - and human categorizing is part of this maze. There is a lot to learn about etiology -- clearly we have multiple serious neurological diseases, that have a good possibility of being tick-borne as well as coming thru other vectors (flies, wasps) that have been over-simplified and discounted as a result of medicine's inability to follow the clues, and the governments legitimate concern for public fear. The # one result here that should be NEWS is that once again, there is indisputable physical confirmation of the biological causes of these illnesses. When will someone police the IDSA who continues to repeat that there is "no convincing biological evidence" that continuing symptoms after a short course of antibiotics for Lyme are biologically based? This is unconscionable, not to mention malpractice at a "systems" level. Make that connection please. There is plenty of biological proof -- the IDSA emperor has no clothes -- and unfortunately what we now see as a result are children and youth becoming debilitated by these diseases our government has chosen to ignore. Disgusted, and yet hopeful in PA.

Julia Wagner

Feb. 27, 2011 at 8:37pm

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