Chronic fatigue syndrome: I. Epstein-Barr virus immune response and molecular epidemiology

Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome were compared to healthy seropositive control subjects in an open study and a case-control study analyzing spontaneous transformation rates of peripheral blood lymphocytes, EBV viral genome characteristics as determined by DNA restriction fragment polymorphisms, and antibody production by Western blot analysis. Thirty percent of patients versus 8% of control subjects underwent spontaneous transformation in the two studies. Viral genome patterns were overall similar to one another, with polymorphisms frequently present in BamHI B', K, H, and Y fragments. Only one line was found with the EBNA-2B genotype. Nineteen lines were found to contain viral DNA in the linear form suggesting active lytic replication. Western blot studies suggested that ill subjects made antibodies to lytic proteins more frequently than did healthy control subjects. Lack of control of EBV outgrowth in vitro is correlated with antibody evidence of active infection in vivo in some patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.