Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), also called as ME may be occurred due to an errant immune system attacking the body, believe researchers in Norway. The disease is thought affect hundreds of thousands people all over the world. Symptoms of CFS may include extreme tiredness, memory and concentration problem, sleep disturbance, and mood swings.
At present there is no approved and effective treatment for the condition. The actual cause of the disease is not apparent, however, many doctors think the term CFS is being used for different diseases. A cancer drug that repressed the immune system alleviated some symptoms of the disease in some patients, showed a small study.
The recent study conducted by researchers from the Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, developed on the earlier finding by testing thirty patients suffering CFS. Half of the patients were given two doses of Rituximab, which is a cancer drug and eradicates a type of white blood cell, while the other half patients were given a placebo treatment. Just thirteen percent showed an improvement in placebo group.
The patients, who were given the drug, reported an improvement in a score of their fatigue levels by sixty-seven percent. Just thirteen percent showed any improvement in the placebo group.
There was a mixed reaction none, moderate, dramatic relief of all symptoms, explained Øystein Fluge, an oncology consultant from the Haukeland University Hospital. Two patients had no recurrence and their life was turned completely around very dramatically. Their hypothesis is that a sort of white blood cell, B lymphocytes, is generating an antibody which attacks the body.
The cancer drug annihilates the lymphocytes which in some cases may reset the immune system, but, in other patients the fatigue symptoms would return when more B lymphocytes were generated. Patients responded to treatment, enhanced cognitive function, fatigue and pain makes them believe that they are touching the central mechanism, added Mr Fluge.
Now, researchers are examining the effect of giving more doses over a longer period of time. The study was published in PLoS One. The study findings are encouraging for people suffering ME, because they help to confirm that there is a significant deformity in immune system function in this disease, explained Dr Charles Shepherd, medical adviser from ME Association, UK.
In addition to that they indicate that changing the immune system reaction in ME could be an effective form of treatment for no less than a subset of patients. Now they need more clinical rails of such anti-cancer agents to perceive if other research group imitates these findings, concluded Dr Shepherd.
source : www.bbc.co.uk/news