Lyme’s disease and chronic fatigue syndrome biomarkers found

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDFeb 27 2011

A new study shows that spinal fluid can be used to detect proteins that help distinguish patients with Lyme disease from those with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Since both the conditions can cause similar symptoms involve the central nervous system, this could be possible said research team, which was led by Dr. Steven E. Schutzer, of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and Richard D. Smith, of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Until now there were no known biomarkers to distinguish between Lyme disease and CFS, nor strong evidence that the central nervous system was involved in the two conditions, the study authors noted.

For the study the team analyzed spinal fluid from 43 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), 25 people who had been diagnosed with and treated for Lyme disease, but did not completely recover (neurologic post-treatment Lyme disease, or nPTLS), and 11 healthy people. They found a total of 738 proteins present only in the spinal fluid of CFS patients and 692 proteins found only in the spinal fluid of nPTLS patients. The findings are published online Feb. 23 in the journal PLoS One.

Schutzer said, “One next step will be to find the best biomarkers that will give conclusive diagnostic results… In addition, if a protein pathway is found to influence either disease, scientists could then develop treatments to target that particular pathway.” Smith added, “Newer techniques that are being developed by the team will allow researchers to dig even deeper and get more information for these and other neurologic diseases…These exciting findings are the tip of our research iceberg.”