Chronic fatigue syndrome genetic study links immune dysfunction to loss of thyroid function

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Chronic fatigue syndrome genetic

study links immune dysfunction to loss of thyroid function

Written

by

Hogg

Thursday,

18 September 2008

A recent study looking at the

significance of genes associated with nervous, hormonal and immune

abnormalities in chronic fatigue syndrome patients, finds a link between

them.

For a long time it has been known that

both the nervous and endocrine (hormonal) systems are responsible for control

of bodily functions and maintaining a state of healthy balance (homeostasis).

Over the past few decades it has also become clear that both of these systems

are also intimately linked to the immune system and its function.

A new term,

" neuroendocrinimmunology " was coined around 20 years ago to

describe this connection between the three systems. According to a paper by

Reichlin (1993) neuroendocrinimmunology is defined as " the study of

neuroendocrine influences on the function of immunocompetent cells " ,

i.e. the influence of the nervous and endocrine systems on immune cells. It also became clear that the

communication was a two-way thing however so the subject of

neuroendocrinimmunology also includes the way the immune system affects the

nervous and endocrine systems.

This subject has been found to have major

implications for chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) as

research studies have found abnormalities in all three systems e.g.

hypothalamic dysfunction (nervous system), low cortisol and blunted adrenal

gland response to stimulation (endocrine system), low natural killer (NK)

cell numbers, increased inflammatory and allergic responses (immune system).

Now researchers at the Department of Medicine, University of Alberta; Walter Mackenzie

Health Sciences Centre, in Edmonton, Canada have looked specifically the

significance of changes in association patterns (of genes) linking indicators

of neuroendocrine and immune activity in patients with ME/CFS.

Genes associated with specific immune

cells were compared with information about nervous system and hormone

function in both ME/CFS patients and healthy individuals in a large

population based study.

Genetic information linking immune cell

activity with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA), thyroidal (HPT) and

gonadal (HPG) axis status was analyzed. Essentially the researchers were

looking at how the activity of the immune system was associated with

production of adrenal hormones (e.g. cortisol), thyroid hormones, and sex

hormones and how this differed between ME/CFS patients and healthy people.

According to the researchers the results

indicate statistically significant differences between ME/CFS and healthy

subjects and that these seem to centre around the function of the pituitary

and thyroid glands.

The results are interesting as ME/CFS

specialists such as Dr. Teitelbaum in the US and Dr. Myhill in

the UK have had success improving patients' symptoms by addressing issues with thyroid

function, along with adrenal issues.

The Canadian scientists conclude that

their study findings " align with known mechanisms of chronic inflammation and support possible

immune-mediated loss of thyroid function in CFS exacerbated by blunted HPA

axis responsiveness. "

Source: Fuite J Vernon SD

Broderick G (2008) Neuroendocrine and immune network re-modeling in chronic

fatigue syndrome: An exploratory analysis Genomics [Epub ahead of print]

PMID: 18775774

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''CFS exacerbated by blunted HPA axis responsiveness''

Weeee better late than never