Abstract:
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a debilitating condition characterized by fatigue and post-exertional malaise, accompanied by various signs of neurological and autonomic dysfunction. ME/CFS is often triggered by an infectious episode and associated with an aberrant immune system. Here we report that ME/CFS is a disorder characterized by skewed B cell receptor gene usage. By applying a next-generation sequencing to determine the clone-based IGHV/IGHD/IGHJ repertoires, we revealed a biased usage of several IGHV genes in peripheral blood B cells from ME/CFS patients. Results of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis further indicated a possibility of distinguishing patients from healthy controls, based on the skewed B cell repertoire. Meanwhile, B cell clones using IGHV3-30 and IGHV3-30-3 genes were more frequent in patients with an obvious infection-related episode at onset, and correlated to expression levels of interferon response genes in plasmablasts. Collectively, these results imply that B cell responses in ME/CFS are directed against an infectious agents or priming antigens induced before disease onset.
Source: Sato W, Ono H, Matsutani T, Nakamura M, Shin I, Amano K, Suzuki R, Yamamura T. Skewing of the B cell receptor repertoire in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. Brain Behav Immun. 2021 Mar 29:S0889-1591(21)00153-7. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2021.03.023. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33794313. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33794313/