However,
Chronic fatigue syndrome: genetic cause?:
Essential
- A vast genetic study in the United Kingdom has identified eight genome regions associated with myalgic encephalomyelitis (EM/SFC), also called chronic fatigue syndrome. In addition,
- These discoveries strengthen the biological recognition of the disease, long considered to be psychological. Consequently,
- The authors call to continue research to better understand the causes and develop treatments. Nevertheless,

. Furthermore,
It is a major advance for a long discredited disease: a team of researchers has identified several regions of the genome associated with myalgic encephalomyelitis (EM), also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (SFC). Similarly, This debilitating pathology, marked by extreme fatigue and cognitive disorders, would affect tens of millions of people worldwide.

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Biological recognition of the disease
Led by the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) as part of the chronic fatigue syndrome: genetic cause? Decodeme project, this work is the largest genetic study ever carried out on EM/SFC. The researchers analyzed DNA of more than 15,000 patients, and compared it to that of healthy people from British biobank. They highlighted eight areas of the genome. close to genes linked to immune and neurological responses, notably OLFM4, associated with the antimicrobial response, ZNFX1, involved in the reaction to RNA viruses, and CA10, linked to chronic pain.

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“It is a validation of EM/SFC as a biomedical disease and an important corrective for the psychological vision of the ‘everything is in the head'”underlines Jos Bosch, epidemiologist at the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands), in an article published in the journal Science. This study does not identify a unique cause. but it marks a key step for patients whose symptoms have long been ignored or misunderstood.

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A need for financing for a chronic fatigue syndrome: genetic cause? complete sequencing of the genome
The results could not all be reproduced in other cohorts, in particular because of different diagnostic criteria. Chris Ponting. human geneticist and co-author of the study, insists: “These differences do not question the importance of the genetic signals identified.” For Doug Speed. geneticist at the University of Aarhus (Denmark), “These variants explain only a small risk fraction, which is usual for human diseases”.
More than 85 % of participants agreed to share their data for other projects. “Our results provide credibility. legitimacy to patient experience”according to Sonya Chowdhury, director of the Action For Me association, dedicated to the disease. But she says: “We have an urgent need for funding to switch to the complete sequencing of the genome.” If this study does not yet provide treatment. it has the merit of laying the foundations for better recognition of EM/SFC.
chronic fatigue syndrome: genetic cause?
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