Kennedy en kollega's hebben het afweersysteem, oxidatieve stress en arteriële stijfheid (een erkende risicofactor voor kardiovasculaire aandoeningen) bij kinderen met ME/CVS onderzocht.

Hun voornaamste konklusies zijn:

de oxidatieve stress (koncentratie stikstofoxide, superoxide, peroxynitriet etc.) is verhoogd.

de witte bloed-cellen (neutrofielen en lymfocyten) sterven in grotere hoeveelheden af.

Van arteriële stijfheid lijkt, in tegenstelling tot bij volwassenen, bij jongeren geen sprake, alhoewel er bij patiënten wel een relatie zichtbaar was tussen cholesterol en arteriële stijfheid.

Volgens een BBC News-artikel is dit aanvullend bewijs dat ME/CVS door een virus veroorzaakt kan worden. Voor dit artikel klik op onderstaande afbeelding:

Een citaat uit bovengenoemd artikel wil ik U niet onthouden:

"It's also important because some people do suggest that ME is a disease of the mind

and here we are showing that it is a disease of the body."

Professor Jill Belch Ninewells Hospital, Dundee

Voor de video van de BBC-uitzending (op) YouTube, klik op onderstaande afbeelding:

Voor een krantenartikel in de Daily Mail, klik op onderstaand logo:

Biochemical and vascular aspects of pediatric chronic fatigue syndrome.

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2010 Sep;164(9):817-823. doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2010.157.

Kennedy G, Khan F, Hill A, Underwood C, Belch JJF.

Objective

To evaluate the biochemical and vascular aspects of

pediatric chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME).

Design

Cross-sectional clinical study.

Setting

Tayside, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Participants

Twenty-five children with CFS/ME and 23 healthy children

recruited from throughout the United Kingdom.

Interventions

Participants underwent a full clinical examination

to establish a diagnosis of CFS/ME and

were asked to describe and score their CFS/ME symptoms.

Biochemical markers were measured.

Arterial wave reflection was estimated to assess systemic arterial stiffness.

Main Outcome Measures

Markers of oxidative stress and free radicals,

C-reactive protein level,

white blood cell apoptosis,

and arterial wave reflection.

Results

Children with CFS/ME had increased oxidative stress

compared with control individuals

(isoprostanes: 252.30 vs 215.60 pg/mL, P = .007;

vitamin C, mean [SD]: 0.84 [0.26] vs 1.15 [0.28] mg/dL, P < .001;

vitamin E, 8.72 [2.39] vs 10.94 [3.46] µg/mL, P = .01) and

increased white blood cell apoptosis

(neutrophils: 53.7% vs 35.7%, P = .005;

lymphocytes: 40.1% vs 24.6%, P = .009).

Arterial stiffness variables did not differ significantly between groups

(mean augmentation index, –0.57% vs –0.47%, P = .09);

however, the derived variables significantly correlated with

total (r = 0.543, P = .02) and low-density lipoprotein (r = 0.631, P = .004) cholesterol

in patients with CFS/ME

but not in controls.

Conclusions

Biomedical anomalies seen in adults with CFS/ME

- increased oxidative stress and increased white blood cell apoptosis -

can also be observed in children with clinically diagnosed CFS/ME

compared with matched controls.

Unlike in their adult counterparts,

however, arterial stiffness remained within the reference range in these pediatric patients.

http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/164/9/817

Met dank aan Erik voor de aanvullingen.