Lyme Disease Distinguished from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Unique proteins in spinal fluid can distinguish between patients suffering from neurologic post treatment Lyme disease (nPTLS) and those with the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).

Investigators found that both conditions involve the central nervous system and that protein abnormalities in the central nervous system are causes and/or effects of both conditions, which present with similar clinical symptoms.

Spinal fluid was analyzed from three groups of people. One group consisted of 43 patients who fulfilled the clinical criteria for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). The second group consisted of 25 patients who had been diagnosed with, and treated for, Lyme disease but did not completely recover. The third group consisted of 11 healthy control subjects.

The fluids were analyzed using high-powered mass spectrometry and protein separation techniques. Each group had more than 2,500 detectable proteins. The team discovered that 738 proteins were identified only in CFS but not in either healthy normal controls or in patients with nPTLS; 692 proteins were found only in the nPTLS patients.

The study team was led by Steven E. Schutzer, MD, of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (Newark, NJ, USA), and Richard D. Smith, PhD, of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Richland, WA, USA). The findings were, published in the February 23, 2011 edition of the journal PLoS ONE.

According to Dr. Schutzer, spinal fluid proteins can probably be used as a marker of disease. "One next step will be to find the best biomarkers that will give conclusive diagnostic results," he said. "In addition, if a protein pathway is found to influence either disease, scientists could then develop treatments to target that particular pathway."

Related Links:
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory