Simmaron research blog post, by Cort Johnson, 5 April 2017: Peterson’s Atypical Subset Opens New View of ME/CFS in Columbia/Simmaron Publication

“We now have biological evidence that the triggers for ME/CFS may involve distinct pathways to disease, or, in some cases, predispose individuals to the later development of serious comorbidities.” Dr. Mady Hornig.

The Subset Makers

Over the past couple of years the Simmaron Research Foundation and Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University and others have begun to pump out some long awaited subsets. This week, new findings were published by Columbia and Simmaron that define 2 subsets.

They’re not the usual suspects (infectious trigger vs non-infectious trigger; gradual onset vs acute onset). In fact, they involve subsets few would have predicted a couple of years ago. They suggest that we might be in for some real surprises over time.

Short Duration vs Long Duration Subset: Two years ago, the Simmaron Research Foundation collaborated with Ian Lipkin and other doctors to uncover a subset few had anticipated: short duration patients vs long duration patients.

The Atypical Patient or “Peterson Subset”:  Now comes a subset of atypical chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) patients (the “Peterson Subset”) that Dr. Peterson had long wondered about. These patients had ME/CFS but tended to follow a different course. Some had had unusual exposures (unusual infections, blood transfusions); others developed serious illnesses (cancer, autoimmune diseases, etc.) that Dr. Peterson didn’t see in the rest of the population.

Dr. Hornig talked about how the atypical subset came about. Like so many breakthroughs in medicine it took a careful and observant doctor/researcher to bring it about. This study, she said, was a testament to:

“Dr. Peterson’s clinical acumen, his long-term follow up of this patient population and his attentiveness to the full range of complex, serious medical disorders that might develop. The classical group had been followed for similar lengths of time but had not developed these more severe, serious comorbidities.”

The atypical vs classical distinction was pre-established by Dr. Peterson before the analysis. Based on his wide-ranging clinical experience, the atypical group stood out for either: 1) the presence of unusual precursors (triggers) of ME/CFS or; 2) the development of more unusual and severe comorbidities over varying (and often long-term) intervals after ME/CFS onset.”

Dr. Peterson felt the unusual outcomes weren’t just the result of chance: something different was going on – something that he felt as a doctor needed to be identified. What if, he thought, there was a way to identify these unusual patients before they started developing these significant illnesses. Then he could do more extensive cancer or immune screens and watch these patients more closely.

Plus, these patients could be inadvertently bollixing up the results of ME/CFS studies. Peterson was so sure, in fact, this subset was different that he had its effects assessed during the first Simmaron/CII spinal fluid study. Peterson turned out to be right: the atypical subset had such an effect on the results that it had to be removed.

The next step was a study comparing the two groups. Using Dr. Peterson’s spinal fluid samples, The Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) at Columbia found that “Peterson Subset” not only had markedly different immune findings but displayed a different pattern of immune results as well. Dr. Peterson is Scientific Advisor to Simmaron and Gunnar Gottschalk was its Research Manager.

Immune network analysis of cerebrospinal fluid in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome with atypical and classical presentations M Hornig1,2, CG Gottschalk3, ML Eddy1, X Che1, JE Ukaigwe1, DL Peterson3 and WI Lipkin. Translational Psychiatry (2017) 7, e1080; doi:10.1038/tp.2017.44; published online 4 April 2017

Read the full article for more info about the atypical subset and the next steps for the researchers.

…Subsets are common in neurological diseases.

Nor is this study’s general finding – that atypical patients can be differentiated from typical patients in ME/CFS – unusual in the neuroscience field.  Virtually every neurological disease… appears to be studded with subsets. Different types of multiple sclerosis, for instance, have been identified using similar kinds of spinal fluid analyses.

Participate in Simmaron Research’s poll, at the foot of the article: Do You Have Typical Or Atypical ME/CFS?

See also: Scientists discover biological evidence of 2 subgroups in ME/CFS