Journal of IiME Volume 4 Issue 1 www.investinme.org SPEAKERS and ABSTRACTS of the 5th INVEST in ME INTERNATIONAL ME/CFS CONFERENCE current Board Member of the International Association of CFS/ME (IACFS/ME) and a founding editor of the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Dr Klimas has been a leader in the field of ME/CFS research for many years and recently opened a model clinic for CFS patients with the aim to treat patients as well as train doctors. Dr Klimas has published over a 130 peer reviewed scientific papers. As the principal investigator of one of the NIH sponsored CFS Research Centers she leads a multidisciplinary research team representing the fields of immunology, autonomic medicine, neuroendocrinology, behavioral psychology, rheumatology, nutrition, and exercise physiology. The University of Miami CFS Research Center is exploring interactions between the immune, autonomic and neuroendocrine. Dr Nancy Klimas – Abstract: Immunologic Biomarkers in ME/CFS Nancy Klimas, M.D* # , Gordon Broderick, PhD**, Mary Ann Fletcher, PhD* University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami VAMC* Medical Director, CFS Clinic www. CFSClinic.com# University of Alberta** In this presentation the current data supporting immune biomarkers will be presented and the sorts of interventions suggested will be explored. The search for biomarkers in ME has become increasingly urgent, both in their potential role in diagnostics and in the design of clinical trials. Biomarkers can be used to define subgroups of patients appropriate for specific interventions such as immunologic abnormalities suitable for immunomodulatory trials. Within the immunologically impacted patient ME/CFS populations there are two primary areas ripe for immune interventions: interventions that would enhance cytolytic function promoting antiviral activity and improve cancer surveillance, and interventions to quiet immune inflammatory pathways or quiet chronic immune activation. Invest in ME (Charity Nr. 1114035) The evidence supporting each of these areas of immune dysfunction will be presented, s well as their clinical implications. Chronic immune activation has been documented by many investigators, including our group. The potential causes of chronic immune activation will be discussed, as well as concerns for health consequences related to living in a state of chronic immune activation. These sorts of therapy are possible, have promising preliminary data and deserve further clinical trials. There is another interesting area of potential intervention coming from ongoing studies of immune-autonomic and immune endocrine linkages. Data will be presented from an ongoing exercise challenge study that has discovered substances made by the immune system that directly turn on sympathetic (adrenaline) responses in the autonomic nervous system. By discovering these biomarkers in our studies, we have also discovered pathways that could be targeted in interventive trials. Finally, by putting the immune dysregulation into the bigger context of systems biology this lecture will conclude with the concept of virtual clinical trials to expedite and focus clinical trials efforts in the most effective and efficient fashion. Professor Brigitte Huber PhD Professor Huber studied immunogenetics at University of London and is currently Professor of Pathology at Tufts University, Boston, USA. Dr. Huber joined the faculty of Tufts Medical School in 1977, and her laboratory has investigated the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the immune response since that time. She has studied the presence of retrovirus HERV K-18 as a marker for those who might develop ME/CFS after an acute infection such as mononucleosis. Her research shows that EBV induces the HERV K-18 envelope gene to trigger the expression of a specific superantigen and that Page 51/56
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