An anti-cancer drug could hold the key to treating CFS according to Norwegian researchers. Symptoms of the disease eased in 10 of 15 patients given rituximab, an anti-lymphoma drug, and 2 appear to have completely recovered. Most patients experienced relapse after a while but the doctors are now experimenting with continued treatments intended to maintain the effect. The signs are hopeful.
Rituximab works by destroying white blood cells that make antibodies, called B cells. The results of the trial therefore suggest that these white blood cells might be involved in causing CFS and that CFS is an autoimmune disease. The team discovered by accident that rituximab might work against CFS after seeing symptoms ease in a patient who had both lymphoma and CFS.
