Fibromyalgia diagnosis from a multi-omics approach: a gut feeling

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Microbiology
• Genomics

Background:

• Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain and fatigue disorder affecting 0.2-6.6% of the global population.
• Current diagnostic methods lack molecular biomarkers.
• Research focuses on central nervous system sensitivity, inflammation, and oxidative stress.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify potential molecular biomarkers for fibromyalgia diagnosis.
• To investigate the relationship between plasma proteome, gut microbiota, and FM.
• To explore the role of oxidative stress and inflammation in FM.

Main Methods:

• Plasma proteome analysis using liquid nano-chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry.
• Fecal metagenome analysis via 16S rRNA gene sequencing on the Illumina MiSeq platform.
• Statistical analysis of differential protein and microbial taxa abundance in 242 women (199 FM patients, 43 controls).

Main Results:

• Identified 30 differentially expressed proteins and 19 microbial taxa in FM patients.
• Developed an algorithm integrating these markers for case-control discrimination.
• Proposed a multifactorial link between gut microbiota and mitochondria-derived oxidative stress/inflammation.

Conclusions:

• Plasma and fecal multi-omics reveal a complex interplay between gut microbiota and mitochondria-derived oxidative stress in FM.
• Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and *Streptococcus salivarius* emerge as key players.
• Findings support a multifactorial etiology of fibromyalgia involving gut-host interactions.