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- Last Updated: 02 December 2015 02 December 2015
June 2005
Dr. Benjamin Natelson, M.D., professor of neurosciences at the University of New Jersey Medical School, is a highly respectedMyalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) researcher. He recently, using a new technology called proteomic profiling, has found abnormal proteins in the spinal fluid of ME/CFS patients.
The purpose of his research is to seek possible causes and diagnostic markers for ME/CFS.
In the early stages of this research, he has already found at least 5 "CFS-related alterations... in both the high and low molecular weight ranges." One of the proteins "that is present in all healthy controls... appears absent or reduced in 81% of CFIDS patients." Dr. Natelson, in the next phase of his research, is seeking to identify this protein. Likely candidates are a thryroid hormone transport protein and a brain-derived neurotrophic factor. The protein alterations could explain various ME/CFS symptoms, including exhaustion, cognition and memory problems, and neural aberrations.
Dr. Natelson wishes to continue and broaden his research to test the spinal fluids of more ME/CFS patients and controls to determine if a CFIDS-specific altered protein profile exists and if such a profile can be used as a diagnostic marker.
Although his work is in its early stages, it seems like a valuable line of research since the spinal fluid may provide access to determining organic changes in the brain.
Notice about names
The Massachusetts ME/CFS & FM Association would like to clarify the use of the various acronyms for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Chronic Fatigue & Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) on this site. When we generate our own articles on the illness, we will refer to it as ME/CFS, the term now generally used in the United States. When we are reporting on someone else’s report, we will use the term they use. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other federal agencies, including the CDC, are currently using ME/CFS.
Massachusetts ME/CFS & FM Association changed its name in July, 2018, to reflect this consensus.