Our History
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1999
Immunological Disturbances
While assessing if Borna disease virus (BDV) was a causative agent for ME/CFS, a study of Swedish CFS patients revealed that immunoreactivity was not restricted to BDV proteins, but rather also observed with the irrelevant control protein β-galactosidase. This meant ME/CFS has a biological basis.
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2010
Conflicted Findings in Infectious Cause for ME/CFS
In 2009, Science and PNAS both published findings demonstrating XMRV as the causative agent for ME/CFS. After multiple federal-level laboratories could not accurately replicate the reported results, Lipkin is recruited by NIH to develop a multicenter study using blinded samples and varied methods of analyses to confirm or refute XMRV’s role in ME/CFS.
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2011
XMRV Investigation
The Science and PNAS XMRV papers were fully retracted as the multicenter blinded study supervised by Lipkin was underway. While there was concern the study was not the best investment of resources, it proved critical for future research.
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2012
XMRV Not Associated with ME/CFS
The CII held a press conference to explain the findings of the NIH study delinking XMRV as a causative agent for ME/CFS.
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2015
Biological Proof of ME/CFS
Identification of distinct immune changes in ME/CFS patients represents the first robust physical evidence ME/CFS is a biological illness and that it has distinct stages.
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2016
Cerebrospinal Fluid and ME/CFS
A study of ME/CFS, MS, and control samples showed a markedly disturbed immune signature in the cerebrospinal fluid of cases that is consistent with immune activation in the central nervous system, and a shift toward an allergic or T helper type-2 pattern associated with autoimmunity.
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2017
Biological Impact of ME/CFS
Studies conclude gut bacteria and the body’s microbiome as well as the body’s response to inflammation have an impact in ME/CFS.
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2017
Center for Solutions for ME/CFS
The NIH funded a 5-year, $9.6 million award for interdisciplinary, inter-institutional research group dedicated to understanding the biology of the disease in order to develop effective means to diagnose, treat, and prevent it.
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2018
Metabolomic and Microbiome Studies
Metabolomic analysis uncovers altered levels of metabolites, that suggest mitochondria dysfunction. It also confirms earlier findings of a distinct pattern of metabolites in ME/CFS patients and irritable bowel syndrome.
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2019
Impact of Activity and ME/CFS
Initial analysis of the exercise tolerance test from the CfS for ME/CFS demonstrated impairment of cellular energy generation from oxygen, sugars, lipids, and amino acids.
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2020
Plasma Proteome Analysis
Findings in this CII study were consistent with a significant association of ME/CFS with immune dysregulation and highlight the potential use of plasma proteome as a source of biomarkers for disease. This was independently confirmed the following year by a Japanese research group.
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2021
Similarities Between ME/CFS and Long COVID
As the COVID-19 pandemic continued and long COVID began to emerge, researchers began to see overlap with ME/CFS. Komaroff and Lipkin propose molecular mechanisms to potentially explain the fatigue and related symptoms in both illnesses.
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2022
Orthostatic Stress in ME/CFS and Long COVID
The Bateman Horne Center performed NASA Lean Tests to assess orthostatic intolerance and utilized a smartphone app for cognitive assessment on an ME/CFS and Long COVID patient/control cohort. The study revealed different symptomatic, hemodynamic, and cognitive abnormalities in both groups and provided a low-cost in-office method for assessment.
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2023
Road Map to the Literature of ME/CFS and Long COVID
Komaroff and Lipkin review the extensive literature for ME/CFS and Long COVID to provide a road map for setting priorities in future investigations.
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2023
Absence of Certain Gut Bacteria Prevalent in ME/CFS Patients
Joint independent studies from the CII and Jackson Laboratories confirm that normally abundant and health-promoting gut bacteria contributed to a deficient microbial capacity for synthesizing butyrate in ME/CFS patients. Significantly, this could provide a direct link between the microbiome and disease symptoms.
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