Genetics puts tighter focus on chronic fatigue

A multidisciplinary team of researchers brought their expertise to bear on a poorly understood syndrome.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. May 15, 2006.

Washington -- People who have chronic fatigue syndrome have a genetic makeup that hinders the body's ability to adapt to change, whether from infection, injury or other stressors, according to an interdisciplinary group of researchers who examined this puzzling and debilitating disorder.

The new findings were released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a series of papers that were published in the April issue of Pharmacogenomics.

Estimates suggest that more than 1 million people in the United States have the notoriously difficult to diagnose and treat CFS. Its symptoms, which include long-lasting bouts of fatigue, can result in about $20,000 in lost wages per family per year. The condition occurs most frequently in women ages 40 to 60 and can be as disabling as multiple sclerosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to the CDC.

"For the first time ever, we have documented that people with CFS have certain genes that are related to those parts of brain activity that mediate the stress response," said William Reeves, MD, who heads the CDC's public health research program on the disorder.

It is hoped that the findings will provide a focus for researchers in pursuit of diagnostic tools and more effective treatments, he said.

In reaching their conclusions, CDC scientists and outside experts in medicine, molecular biology, epidemiology, genomics, mathematics, engineering and physics analyzed data from 227 CFS patients who volunteered to spend two days in the hospital. This information included measures of sleep physiology, cognitive function, autonomic nervous system function and such blood evaluations as an assessment of the activity of 20,000 genes. Overall, their work was directed at identifying factors that potentially cause or are related to CFS.