FRIDAY, Feb. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Neurologic post-treatment Lyme disease (nPTLS) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) can be differentiated by group-specific and individual cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) protein complements, according to a study published online Feb. 23 in PLoS ONE.
Steven E. Schutzer, M.D., from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, and colleagues analyzed pooled CSF samples from 25 nPTLS patients, 43 CFS patients, and 11 healthy volunteers to determine how to differentiate these two syndromes from one another and from healthy controls. The pooled CSF samples were analyzed using high-resolution mass spectrometry) and immunoaffinity depletion methods (to decrease protein-masking by abundant proteins). Individual samples randomly chosen from 14 CFS patients, 14 nPTLS patients, and 10 healthy controls were analyzed using a mass spectrometry-based label-free quantitative proteomics approach.
The investigators found that specific CSF proteins were significantly different, allowing CFS and nPTLS groups and individuals within these groups to be distinguished from each other, and from healthy controls. A total of 2,783 nonredundant proteins were identified in the CFS group, and 2,768 in the nPTLS group. Upon individual analysis, 738 CFS-specific and 692 nPTLS-specific proteins were identified. Individuals with nPTLS and CFS shared significantly more proteins than either shared with the controls.
"CFS and nPTLS are distinguishable disorders with distinct CSF proteomes, where one can be separated from the other. The results also demonstrate that each condition has a multitude of candidate diagnostic biomarkers for future validation and optimization studies," the authors write.
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