Dataset Information

Plasma neuropeptide Y: a biomarker for symptom severity in chronic fatigue syndrome.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a complex, multi-symptom illness with a multisystem pathogenesis involving alterations in the nervous, endocrine and immune systems.Abnormalities in stress responses have been identified as potential triggers or mediators of CFS symptoms. This study focused on the stress mediator neuropeptide Y (NPY). We hypothesized that NPY would be a useful biomarker for CFS.

Methods

The CFS patients (n = 93) were from the Chronic Fatigue and Related Disorders Clinic at the University of Miami and met the 1994 case definition of Fukuda and colleagues. Healthy sedentary controls (n = 100)) were from NIH or VA funded studies. Another fatiguing, multi-symptom illness, Gulf War Illness (GWI), was also compared to CFS. We measured NPY in plasma using a radioimmunoassay (RIA). Psychometric measures, available for a subset of CFS patients included: Perceived Stress Scale, Profile of Mood States, ATQ Positive & Negative Self-Talk Scores, the COPE, the Beck Depression Inventory, Fatigue Symptom Inventory, Cognitive Capacity Screening Examination, Medical Outcomes Survey Short Form-36, and the Quality of Life Scale.

Results

Plasma NPY was elevated in CFS subjects, compared to controls (p = .000) and to GWI cases (p = .000). Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analyses indicated that the predictive ability of plasma NPY to distinguish CFS patients from healthy controls and from GWI was significantly better than chance alone. In 42 patients with CFS, plasma NPY had significant correlations (<0.05) with perceived stress, depression, anger/hostility, confusion, negative thoughts, positive thoughts, general health, and cognitive status. In each case the correlation (+ or -) was in the anticipated direction.

Conclusions

This study is the first in the CFS literature to report that plasma NPY is elevated compared to healthy controls and to a fatigued comparison group, GWI patients. The significant correlations of NPY with stress, negative mood, general health, depression and cognitive function strongly suggest that this peptide be considered as a biomarker to distinguish subsets of CFS.

SUBMITTER: Fletcher MA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3024290 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Plasma neuropeptide Y: a biomarker for symptom severity in chronic fatigue syndrome.

Fletcher Mary A MA Rosenthal Martin M Antoni Michael M Ironson Gail G Zeng Xiao R XR Barnes Zachary Z Harvey Jeanna M JM Hurwitz Barry B Levis Silvina S Broderick Gordon G Klimas Nancy G NG

Behavioral and brain functions : BBF 20101229

<h4>Background</h4>Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a complex, multi-symptom illness with a multisystem pathogenesis involving alterations in the nervous, endocrine and immune systems.Abnormalities in stress responses have been identified as potential triggers or mediators of CFS symptoms. This study focused on the stress mediator neuropeptide Y (NPY). We hypothesized that NPY would be a useful biomarker for CFS.<h4>Methods</h4>The CFS patients (n = 93) were from the Chronic Fatigue and Related ...[more]

PMID: 21190576

Similar Datasets

Project description:Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a complex, multisystem disorder that can be disabling. CFS symptoms can be provoked by increased physical or cognitive activity, and by orthostatic stress. In preliminary work, we noted that CFS symptoms also could be provoked by application of longitudinal neural and soft tissue strain to the limbs and spine of affected individuals. In this study we measured the responses to a straight leg raise neuromuscular strain maneuver in individuals with CFS and healthy controls. We randomly assigned 60 individuals with CFS and 20 healthy controls to either a 15 minute period of passive supine straight leg raise (true neuromuscular strain) or a sham straight leg raise. The primary outcome measure was the symptom intensity difference between the scores during and 24 hours after the study maneuver compared to baseline. Fatigue, body pain, lightheadedness, concentration difficulties, and headache scores were measured individually on a 0-10 scale, and summed to create a composite symptom score. Compared to individuals with CFS in the sham strain group, those with CFS in the true strain group reported significantly increased body pain (P = 0.04) and concentration difficulties (P = 0.02) as well as increased composite symptom scores (all P = 0.03) during the maneuver. After 24 hours, the symptom intensity differences were significantly greater for the CFS true strain group for the individual symptom of lightheadedness (P = 0.001) and for the composite symptom score (P = 0.005). During and 24 hours after the exposure to the true strain maneuver, those with CFS had significantly higher individual and composite symptom intensity changes compared to the healthy controls. We conclude that a longitudinal strain applied to the nerves and soft tissues of the lower limb is capable of increasing symptom intensity in individuals with CFS for up to 24 hours. These findings support our preliminary observations that increased mechanical sensitivity may be a contributor to the provocation of symptoms in this disorder.

Project description:Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) studies from our laboratory and others have described cytokine abnormalities. Other studies reported no difference between CFS and controls. However, methodologies varied widely and few studies measured more than 4 or 5 cytokines. Multiplex technology permits the determination of cytokines for a large panel of cytokines simultaneously with high sensitivity and with only 30 ul of plasma per sample. No widely accepted laboratory test or marker is available for the diagnosis or prognosis of CFS. This study screened plasma factors to identify circulating biomarkers associated with CFS.Cytokines were measured in plasma from female CFS cases and female healthy controls. Multiplex technology provided profiles of 16 plasma factors including the pro -inflammatory cytokines: tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha), lymphotoxin alpha (LTalpha), interleukin (IL) - IL-Ialpha, IL-1beta, IL-6; TH1 cytokines: interferon gamma (IFNgamma), IL-12p70, IL-2, IL-15; TH2: IL-4, IL-5; TH17 cytokines, IL-17 and IL-23; anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-10, IL-13; the inflammatory mediator and neutrophil attracting chemokine IL-8 (CXCL8). Analysis by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve assessed the biomarker potential of each cytokine.The following cytokines were elevated in CFS compared to controls: LTalpha, IL-1alpha, IL-1beta, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6 and IL-12. The following cytokines were decreased in CFS: IL-8, IL-13 and IL-15. The following cytokines were not different: TNFalpha, IFNgamma, IL-2, IL-10, IL-23 and IL-17. Applying (ROC) curve analyses, areas under the curves (AUC) for IL-5 (0. 84), LTalpha (0.77), IL-4 (0.77), IL-12 (0.76) indicated good biomarker potential. The AUC of IL-6 (0.73), IL-15 (0.73), IL-8 (0.69), IL-13 (0.68) IL-1alpha (0.62), IL-1beta (0.62) showed fair potential as biomarkers.Cytokine abnormalities are common in CFS. In this study, 10 of 16 cytokines examined showed good to fair promise as biomarkers. However, the cytokine changes observed are likely to more indicative of immune activation and inflammation, rather than specific for CFS. As such, they are targets for herapeutic strategies. Newer techniques allow evaluation of large panels of cytokines in a cost effective fashion.

Dataset Information

Plasma neuropeptide Y: a biomarker for symptom severity in chronic fatigue syndrome.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Plasma neuropeptide Y: a biomarker for symptom severity in chronic fatigue syndrome.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets