Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35814774›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in medicine2022

Revisiting IgG Antibody Reactivity to Epstein-Barr Virus in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Its Potential Application to Disease Diagnosis.

Nuno Sepúlveda, João Malato, Franziska Sotzny, Anna D Grabowska, André Fonseca, Clara Cordeiro, Luís Graça, Przemyslaw Biecek, Uta Behrends, Josef Mautner and 3 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
15citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.5field-weighted citation impact, top 17% 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

15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Recent research in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: an evidence map.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2025
    Pooled it
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  8. Antibody immune responses and causal relationships in four immune skin diseases: Evidence from Mendelian randomization and Bayesian Weighting (Antibody Responses in Skin Diseases: MR & Bayesian).Skin research and technology : official journal of International Society for Bioengineering and the Skin (ISBS) [and] International Society for Digital Imaging of Skin (ISDIS) [and] International Society for Skin Imaging (ISSI) · 2024
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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

13 authors at 10 institutions in 6 countries.

Nuno SepúlvedaFaculty of Mathematics and Information Science, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland.
João MalatoCEAUL - Centro de Estatística e Aplicações da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
Franziska SotznyCharité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Medical Immunology, Berlin, Germany.
Anna D GrabowskaDepartment of Biophysics, Physiology, and Pathophysiology, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
André FonsecaCEAUL - Centro de Estatística e Aplicações da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
Clara CordeiroCEAUL - Centro de Estatística e Aplicações da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
Luís GraçaInstituto de Medicina Molecular, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
Przemyslaw BiecekFaculty of Mathematics and Information Science, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland.
Uta BehrendsTechnical University of Munich, School of Medicine, Childrens' Hospital, Munich, Germany.
Josef MautnerTechnical University of Munich, School of Medicine, Childrens' Hospital, Munich, Germany.
Francisco WestermeierDepartment of Health Studies, Institute of Biomedical Science, FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Graz, Austria.
Eliana M LacerdaDepartment of Clinical Research, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
Carmen ScheibenbogenCharité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Medical Immunology, Berlin, Germany.
Universidade Aberta · PTHumboldt-Universität zu Berlin · DEFH JOANNEUM University of Applied Sciences · ATGerman Center for Infection Research · DELondon School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine · GBMedical University of Warsaw · PLTechnical University of Munich · DEUniversity of Algarve · PTUniversity of Lisbon · PTWarsaw University of Technology · PL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Infections by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) are often at the disease onset of patients suffering from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). However, serological analyses of these infections remain inconclusive when comparing patients with healthy controls (HCs). In particular, it is unclear if certain EBV-derived antigens eliciting antibody responses have a biomarker potential for disease diagnosis. With this purpose, we re-analyzed a previously published microarray data on the IgG antibody responses against 3,054 EBV-related antigens in 92 patients with ME/CFS and 50 HCs. This re-analysis consisted of constructing different regression models for binary outcomes with the ability to classify patients and HCs. In these models, we tested for a possible interaction of different antibodies with age and gender. When analyzing the whole data set, there were no antibody responses that could distinguish patients from healthy controls. A similar finding was obtained when comparing patients with non-infectious or unknown disease trigger with healthy controls. However, when data analysis was restricted to the comparison between HCs and patients with a putative infection at their disease onset, we could identify stronger antibody responses against two candidate antigens (EBNA4_0529 and EBNA6_0070). Using antibody responses to these two antigens together with age and gender, the final classification model had an estimated sensitivity and specificity of 0.833 and 0.720, respectively. This reliable case-control discrimination suggested the use of the antibody levels related to these candidate viral epitopes as biomarkers for disease diagnosis in this subgroup of patients. To confirm this finding, a follow-up study will be conducted in a separate cohort of patients.

Indexed as

antigen mimicrybiomarker discoveryEpstein-Barr virusMyalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndromepatient stratification

Identifiers

PMID35814774
PMCPMC9263839
OpenAlexW4283372762

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.