Observational studyJournal of translational medicine2017
Activin B is a novel biomarker for chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) diagnosis: a cross sectional study.
Observational study in Journal of translational medicine, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06233890 (The Analysis of Fatigue on Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Therapy in Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia), which is not on this map. Cited by 22 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
The Analysis of Fatigue on Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Therapy in Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Biomarkers of post-acute infection syndrome: a systematic literature review.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Pooled it
- Biomarkers for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS): a systematic review.BMC medicine · 2023Pooled it
- The emerging role of exosomal LncRNAs in chronic fatigue syndrome: from intercellular communication to disease biomarkers.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2025Review
- Inhibin subunit beta B (INHBB): an emerging role in tumor progression.Journal of physiology and biochemistry · 2024Review
- Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: the biology of a neglected disease.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Review
- The persistent viral infections in the development and severity of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.Journal of translational medicine · 2023Article
- Exploring the joint potential of inflammation, immunity, and receptor-based biomarkers for evaluating ME/CFS progression.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Article
- Article
- Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): An Overview.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Review
- A map of metabolic phenotypes in patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.JCI insight · 2021Article
- Potential of Activin B as a Clinical Biomarker in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS).Biomolecules · 2021Article
- Ross River Virus Immune Evasion Strategies and the Relevance to Post-viral Fatigue, and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Onset.Frontiers in medicine · 2021Article
- Environmental, Neuro-immune, and Neuro-oxidative Stress Interactions in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.Molecular neurobiology · 2020Review
- Cell-Based Blood Biomarkers for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Article
- A Practical Approach to the Diagnosis of Lyme Borreliosis: From Clinical Heterogeneity to Laboratory Methods.Frontiers in medicine · 2020Review
- Pathological Mechanisms Underlying Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Review
- Rethinking ME/CFS Diagnostic Reference Intervals via Machine Learning, and the Utility of Activin B for Defining Symptom Severity.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
- The clinical value of cytokines in chronic fatigue syndrome.Journal of translational medicine · 2019Review
- Evidence of Clinical Pathology Abnormalities in People with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) from an Analytic Cross-Sectional Study.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
- Weighting of orthostatic intolerance time measurements with standing difficulty score stratifies ME/CFS symptom severity and analyte detection.Journal of translational medicine · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundInvestigations of activin family proteins as serum biomarkers for chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME). CFS/ME is a disease with complex, wide-ranging symptoms, featuring persistent fatigue of 6 months or longer, particularly post exertion. No definitive biomarkers are available.
methodsA cross-sectional, observational study of CFS/ME patients fulfilling the 2003 Canadian Consensus Criteria, in parallel with healthy non-fatigued controls, was conducted. Comparisons with a previously defined activin reference population were also performed. For the total study cohort the age range was 18-65 years with a female: male participant ratio of greater than 3:1. All participants were assessed via a primary care community clinic. Blood samples were collected for pathology testing after physical examination and orthostatic intolerance assessment. Cytokines, activin A, activin B and follistatin were also measured in sera from these samples. All data were compared between the CFS/ME and control cohorts, with the activins and follistatin also compared with previously defined reference intervals.
resultsSerum activin B levels for CFS/ME participants were significantly elevated when compared to the study controls, as well as the established reference interval. Serum activin A and follistatin were within their normal ranges. All routine and special pathology markers were within the normal laboratory reference intervals for the total study cohort, with no significant differences detected between CFS/ME and control groups. Also, no significant differences were detected for IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17A, TNF or IFN-gamma.
conclusionElevated activin B levels together with normal activin A levels identified patients with the diagnostic symptoms of CFS/ME, thus providing a novel serum based test. The activins have multiple physiological roles and capture the diverse array of symptoms experienced by CFS/ME patients.
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