Gene profiling of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis

Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is a multisystem disease, the pathogenesis of which remains undetermined. Following two microarray studies, we reported the differential expression of 88 human genes in patients with CFS; 85 of these genes were upregulated and 3 were downregulated. The top functional categories of these 88 genes were hematologic disease and function, immunologic disease and function, cancer, cell death, immune response, and infection. Clustering of quantitative polymerase chain reaction data from CFS/ME patients revealed seven subtypes with distinct differences in Short Form (SF)-36 scores, clinical phenotypes, and severity. Gene signatures in each subtype implicate five human genes as possible targets for specific therapy. Development of a diagnostic test for subtype status is now a priority. The possibility that these subtypes represent individual host responses to particular microbial infections is being investigated and may provide another route to specific therapies for CFS patients.