NY Times article calls Kerr study convincing evidence.

[Guest guest]

We all know about the Kerr study, but it's good to see it described in

a mainstream newspaper where some of our doubting friends and relatives

and doctors might read about it. And Jane Brody.

I still remember the flippant and destructive Jane Brody article on CFS

a few years ago. Take that, Jane Brody!

Sue ,

Upstate New York

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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/02/health/02outc.html

Updates: Genes and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

Published: August 2, 2005

People who suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome sometimes have trouble

persuading their doctors that they have a real disease because its

symptoms are so vague and their cause so elusive.

Now a new study offers convincing evidence that patients with the

syndrome, often referred to as C.F.S., have abnormalities in gene

expression in their blood. The report appears in the August issue of

The Journal of Clinical Pathology.

R. Kerr, the senior author of the paper and a senior lecturer

at Imperial College, London, said, " C.F.S. patients will be pleased

that such 'biological' research is progressing toward understanding

their disease at the cellular and molecular level. "

Using sophisticated genetic analysis techniques, the researchers

compared gene expression in the blood of patients with the syndrome and

that of a group of healthy controls matched for age and sex. They

confirmed that the expression of 16 genes was significantly different

in the patients with chronic fatigue. The authors said these gene

expressions may be important in determining the cause of the illness.

The findings are consistent with previous work showing that patients

with chronic fatigue syndrome have activated immune systems, showing

increased numbers of T-cells and other germ-fighting bodies.

The genes appear to induce blood changes symptomatic of a wide variety

of disorders, which may help explain why the symptoms of the syndrome

are so varied.

Dr. Kerr said researchers were now ready to begin looking for

treatments. " After we truly understand what is happening " on a

molecular level, he said, " it will be a short leap to selecting

candidate pharmacological therapies to test in clinical trials. "