Research projects

Brain changes in ME/CFS: Focus on the stress and immune system

About

Status:

Ongoing

Principal investigator:

Country:

Netherlands

Study start:

2023-01

Completion (planned):

2027-12

Last update:

2024-12-20

Research types:

Basic research

Research areas:

Nervous system dysfunction

Interventions:

Biopsy

Priv. Sector Partner:

Not available

Sponsors:

The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw)

Links

Project website

Project description

ME/CFS has various neurological symptoms, such as mood swings, lack of energy and problems with sleep and concentration. Despite initial evidence of brain involvement in ME/CFS, little is known about possible molecular and cellular changes in the brain. In this project, brain tissue will be collected through a ME/CFS donor programme. The brain tissue will be used to investigate systems that deal with stress response, immunity and energy metabolism.

Goal

ME/CFS is often thought of as a brain disease because of its neurological symptoms. However, little is still known about changes in the brain of ME/CFS patients. By collecting brain tissue through a brain donor programme, this can be studied. This leads to more knowledge about the mechanisms and possible origins of this disease and can thus help improve diagnosis and treatment, which is relevant for patients, doctors and researchers.

Approach

Brain tissue from people with ME/CFS is currently not available for scientific research. To change this, this project sets up a brain donor programme to collect and study brain tissue from ME/CFS patients. The collected brain tissue will be made available for research. The aim is to find 200 donors to then be able to do 5 autopsies a year. So far, 25 ME/CFS donors have already been registered in the Netherlands Brain Bank (NBB). The study focuses on brain tissue changes in patients. It also looks at the Hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) stress axis, inflammatory cells and energy metabolism.

(Description adapted from project website: see link above)

Patient cohort

ME/CFS according to Canadian Consensus Criteria (CCC).

Patients enrolled: 200

Age group: 18 - 65 years (Adults)

Research areas

3

Research types

1

Research networks

1

Working groups

2

People

5

Publications

0

Organisations

3

Research areas

Nervous system dysfunction

Nervous system is the entire nerve apparatus, composed of a central part, the brain and spinal cord, and a peripheral part, the cranial and spinal nerves, autonomic ganglia, and plexuses. Diseases of the nervous system include diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system. This includes disorders of the brain, spinal cord, cranial nerves, peripheral nerves, nerve roots, autonomic ner...

Research projects:

The part of the central nervous system that is contained within the skull. The developed brain consists of cerebrum, cerebellum, and others structures in the brain stem. Diseases of the of the central nervous system pertain to any component of the brain (including the cerebral hemispheres, diencephalon, brain stem, and cerebellum) or the spinal cord. Description adapted from:

Research projects:

Central nervous system dysfunction

Diseases of any component of the brain (including the cerebral hemispheres, diencephalon, brain stem, andcerebellum) or the spinal cord. Description adapted from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/68002493.

Research projects:

13

Publications:

4