Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32046336›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of molecular sciences2020

Cell-Based Blood Biomarkers for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Daniel Missailidis, Oana Sanislav, Claire Y Allan, Sarah J Annesley, Paul R Fisher

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of molecular sciences, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
23citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
2.9field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

23 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Recent research in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: an evidence map.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2025
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  6. Observational
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  14. Mitochondrial Measures in Primary Cells Isolated from Patients with ME/CFS.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Daniel MissailidisDepartment of Physiology, Anatomy and Microbiology, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086, Australia.
Oana SanislavDepartment of Physiology, Anatomy and Microbiology, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086, Australia.
Claire Y AllanDepartment of Physiology, Anatomy and Microbiology, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086, Australia.
Sarah J AnnesleyDepartment of Physiology, Anatomy and Microbiology, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086, Australia.
Paul R FisherDepartment of Physiology, Anatomy and Microbiology, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086, Australia.
La Trobe University · AU

Funding

Judith Jane Mason and Harold Stannett Williams Memorial Foundation MAS2016F063 and MAS2018F00026McCusker Charitable Foundation NA
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a devastating illness whose biomedical basis is now beginning to be elucidated. We reported previously that, after recovery from frozen storage, lymphocytes (peripheral blood mononuclear cells, PBMCs) from ME/CFS patients die faster in culture medium than those from healthy controls. We also found that lymphoblastoid cell lines (lymphoblasts) derived from these PBMCs exhibit multiple abnormalities in mitochondrial respiratory function and signalling activity by the cellular stress-sensing kinase Target Of Rapamycin Complex 1 (TORC1). These differences were correlated with disease severity, as measured by the Richardson and Lidbury weighted standing test. The clarity of the differences between these cells derived from ME/CFS patient blood and those from healthy controls suggested that they may provide useful biomarkers for ME/CFS. Here, we report a preliminary investigation into that possibility using a variety of analytical classification tools, including linear discriminant analysis, logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. We found that results from three different tests-lymphocyte death rate, mitochondrial respiratory function and TORC1 activity-could each individually serve as a biomarker with better than 90% sensitivity but only modest specificity vís a vís healthy controls. However, in combination, they provided a cell-based biomarker with sensitivity and specificity approaching 100% in our sample. This level of sensitivity and specificity was almost equalled by a suggested protocol in which the frozen lymphocyte death rate was used as a highly sensitive test to triage positive samples to the more time consuming and expensive tests measuring lymphoblast respiratory function and TORC1 activity. This protocol provides a promising biomarker that could assist in more rapid and accurate diagnosis of ME/CFS.

Indexed as

AdultAgedBiomarkersFatigue Syndrome, ChronicFemaleHumansLeukocytes, MononuclearMaleMechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 1Middle AgedMitochondriaSensitivity and SpecificityBiomarkersMechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 1biomarkerchronic fatigue syndromecomplex VdiagnosisME/CFSmitochondriamyalgic encephalomyelitisSeahorse respirometryTORC1

Identifiers

PMID32046336
PMCPMC7037777
OpenAlexW3003385830

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.