Developing a blood cell‐based diagnostic test for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome using peripheral blood mononuclear cells

Xu, J. , Lodge, T., Kingdon, C., Strong, J. W. L., Maclennan, J., Lacerda, E., Kujawski, S., Zalewski, P., Huang, W. E. and Morten, K. J. (2023) Developing a blood cell‐based diagnostic test for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome using peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Advanced Science, 10(30), 2302146. (doi: 10.1002/advs.202302146) (PMID:37653608) (PMCID:PMC10602530)

Abstract

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is characterized by debilitating fatigue that profoundly impacts patients' lives. Diagnosis of ME/CFS remains challenging, with most patients relying on self-report, questionnaires, and subjective measures to receive a diagnosis, and many never receiving a clear diagnosis at all. In this study, a single-cell Raman platform and artificial intelligence are utilized to analyze blood cells from 98 human subjects, including 61 ME/CFS patients of varying disease severity and 37 healthy and disease controls. These results demonstrate that Raman profiles of blood cells can distinguish between healthy individuals, disease controls, and ME/CFS patients with high accuracy (91%), and can further differentiate between mild, moderate, and severe ME/CFS patients (84%). Additionally, specific Raman peaks that correlate with ME/CFS phenotypes and have the potential to provide insights into biological changes and support the development of new therapeutics are identified. This study presents a promising approach for aiding in the diagnosis and management of ME/CFS and can be extended to other unexplained chronic diseases such as long COVID and post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, which share many of the same symptoms as ME/CFS.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: WEH acknowledges support from EPSRC (EP/M002403/1 and EP/M02833/1). We also thank Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences for financial support.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Xu, Dr Jiabao
• Authors: Xu, J., Lodge, T., Kingdon, C., Strong, J. W. L., Maclennan, J., Lacerda, E., Kujawski, S., Zalewski, P., Huang, W. E., and Morten, K. J.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Biomedical Engineering
• Journal Name: Advanced Science
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 2198-3844
• ISSN (Online): 2198-3844
• Published Online: 31 August 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Advanced Science 10(30):2302146
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license