Induced pluripotent stem cells as suitable sensors for fibromyalgia and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.

backgroundFibromyalgia (FM) and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) are devastating metabolic neuroimmune diseases that are difficult to diagnose because of the presence of numerous symptoms and a lack of specific biomarkers. Despite patient heterogeneity linked to patient subgroups and variation in disease severity, anomalies are found in the blood and plasma of these patients when compared with healthy control groups. The seeming specificity of these "plasma factors", as recently reported by Ron Davis and his group at Stanford University, CA, United States, and observations by our group, have led to the proposal that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) may be used as metabolic sensors for FM and ME/CFS, a hypothesis that is the basis for this in-depth review.

aimTo identify metabolic signatures in FM and/or ME/CFS supporting the existence of disease-associated plasma factors to be sensed by iPSCs.

methodsA PRISMA (Preferred Reported Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis)-based systematic review of the literature was used to select original studies evaluating the metabolite profiles of FM and ME/CFS body fluids. The MeSH terms "metabolomic" or "metabolites" in combination with FM and ME/CFS disease terms were screened against the PubMed database. Only original studies applying omics technologies, published in English, were included. The data obtained were tabulated according to the disease and type of body fluid analyzed. Coincidences across studies were searched and

resultsEighteen previous studies show that some metabolites are commonly altered in ME/CFS and FM body fluids.

conclusionThis opinion review explains our hypothesis that iPSCs could be developed as a screening platform to provide evidence of a metabolic imbalance in FM and ME/CFS.