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Imagine unusual fatigue that no test battery could explain. To the point that we end up believing that “it’s in the head”. It is the daily life of patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis, better known as Chronic fatigue syndrome.
If the causes of this evil, which would receive 250,000 people in Franceremain poorly known (an infection, significant stress, etc.), researchers from the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland, advance a genetic origin. A most important discovery insofar as there is currently no diagnostic test or curative treatment.
Eight genes involved
For their work, scientists have analyzed 15,579 DNA samples among the 27,000 people affected by this syndrome and participating in the Decodeme project, the largest global database on this disease.
They then identified eight distinct genetic markers in people with this pathology, compared to those who do not suffer. These differences, also called “genetic signals”, are linked to immune and nervous systems.
At least two of these signals are linked to how the body reacts to an infection, which echoes the testimonies of patients that symptoms often start after a disease.
Promising prospects
DNA of a person who does not change over time, experts claim that these genetic signals therefore probably reflect the causes of the disease.
Although these discoveries are not yet ready to influence treatment or diagnosis, they offer essential clues to the origins of the disease and could guide the future development of drugs.
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