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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 15, 2026

A Randomized, Sham-Controlled Trial of Cranial Electrical Stimulation for Fibromyalgia Pain and Physical Function, Using Brain Imaging Biomarkers

A Randomized, Sham-Controlled Trial of Cranial Electrical Stimulation for Fibromyalgia Pain and Physical Function, Using Brain Imaging Biomarkers

Published on: January 5, 2024

Unique immunologic patterns in fibromyalgia.

Frederick G Behm¹, Igor M Gavin, Oleksiy Karpenko

¹Department of Pathology, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Chicago, IL, USA. bsgmd@hotmail.com.

BMC Clinical Pathology

|December 19, 2012

Summary

Fibromyalgia patients show impaired cell-mediated immunity, with significantly lower cytokine production from stimulated immune cells compared to healthy individuals. This finding suggests a potential new diagnostic approach for fibromyalgia.

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Anti-Nuclear Antibody Screening Using HEp-2 Cells

Anti-Nuclear Antibody Screening Using HEp-2 Cells

Published on: June 23, 2014

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A Randomized, Sham-Controlled Trial of Cranial Electrical Stimulation for Fibromyalgia Pain and Physical Function, Using Brain Imaging Biomarkers

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Published on: January 5, 2024

Anti-Nuclear Antibody Screening Using HEp-2 Cells

Anti-Nuclear Antibody Screening Using HEp-2 Cells

Published on: June 23, 2014

Area of Science:

Immunology
Clinical Medicine
Pathophysiology

Background:

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain condition diagnosed by exclusion due to a lack of definitive tests.
Emerging evidence implicates the immune system, particularly aberrant cytokine expression, in FM pathogenesis.
Investigating immune cell responses in FM patients is crucial for understanding disease mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

To compare cytokine production in response to mitogenic activators between FM patients and healthy controls.
To determine if immune cell function is altered in individuals with fibromyalgia.
To explore potential immunologic markers for FM diagnosis.

Main Methods:

Collected plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 110 FM patients and 91 healthy donors.
Stimulated PBMC cultures with PHA or PMA/ionomycin and measured cytokine concentrations (IFN-γ, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, MIP-1β, MCP-1, MIP1-α) using multiplex immunoassay.
Analyzed cytokine levels in plasma and cell culture supernatants.

Main Results:

Healthy controls exhibited significantly increased cytokine levels upon PBMC stimulation compared to non-stimulated cultures.
FM patients displayed significantly lower concentrations of most cytokines in stimulated PBMC cultures compared to controls.
Cytokine concentration decreases in FM patients ranged from 1.5-fold (MIP-1β) to 10.2-fold (IL-6) in PHA challenges and 1.8 to 4-fold in PMA challenges.

Conclusions:

PBMC from FM patients show markedly reduced cytokine responses to mitogenic activators, indicating impaired cell-mediated immunity.
This novel cytokine assay identifies distinct immunologic traits in FM patients.
Combined with clinical data, these immunologic findings may lead to a new diagnostic methodology for fibromyalgia.