Perforin. New immune marker may shed light on pathology of CFS.

(December 2005; http://cfidsreport.com) Expression of a specific immune molecule was found to be low in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), according to the authors of a study published in Clinical and Experimental Immunology. Published in December 2005, the study tested 30 CFS patients for perforin, a protein produced by natural killer cells. The study's authors suggest that “perforin deficiency may prove useful as a biological marker in CFS – perhaps one that will define a subgroup with a common pathogenesis.”

Autoimmune diseases, such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, have typically been associated with low levels of perforin. In these diseases, researchers believe that the low levels of perforin may be genetically based, as the perforin is “used up” by the inflammatory process.

Perforin also plays a role in the body’s ability to fight virus, bacteria, and fungal infection, as well as cancer. Studies have also shown that perforin also may be depleted by a chronic infection.

According to Dr. Kevin Maher, who co-authored the study, “We do not know whether this reduction is because the cells had a decreased ability to produce the protein or because they lost or used the protein at an increased rate… Ongoing research will hopefully define the process in greater detail.”

The study was funded by private-public partnership between the Miami Veterans Affairs, the NIH, and the CFIDS Association of America to the University Of Miami Miller School Of Medicine, which houses one of the most advanced research labs in the world pertaining to chronic fatigue syndrome research.