Journal of IiME Volume 2 Issue 1 www.investinme.org Possible application of visible and near-infrared spectral patterns in serum to provide emerging clue to biomarkers for chronic fatigue syndrome (continued) The main problems in CFS studies can be attributed to the objectivity of diagnosis and absence of biomarkers. Therefore, recently, we have developed a novel method using visible and near-infrared (Vis-NIR) spectroscopy and chemometrics, and showed that VisNIR spectroscopy provides promising diagnostic tools for CFS (Sakudo, 2006). Furthermore, the results also imply the presence of common factors among CFS patients’ sera (Sakudo, 2006). For essentially all clinically relevant biomolecules except hemoglobin, Vis-NIR radiation of the biomolecules is absorbed due to the combination and overtone of vibrations such as stretching and bending of hydrogenbearing functional groups such as C-H, N-H, O-H (Murray, 1993). This is because peaks in Vis-NIR spectra are due to hydrogen-containing functional groups. Our recent findings indicate that Vis-NIR analysis combined with chemometrics analysis of serum achieves complete separation of CFS patients from healthy controls (Sakudo, 2006). This approach deserves further evaluation as a potential novel strategy for instrumental diagnosis of CFS. More importantly, results of chemometrics analysis, such as principal component analysis (PCA) and soft-independent model of class analogy (SIMCA), suggest that unknown factor(s) in serum are commonly present in all CFS patients (Sakudo, 2006). Important peaks of PCA loadings and SIMCA discriminating power indicate at absorption by common CFS biomolecules possibly bearing hydrogen-containing groups of Vis-NIR radiation occurred in that wavelength. If our hypothesis that CFS common factors have hydrogen-containing functional groups (Fig. 1), detailed band assignment would provide promising CFS biomarkers. The first choice for identification of CFS (continued on page 6) Table. 1 Abnormality in blood of CFS patients Autoantibody levels Cytokine levels Low production of immunoglobulin Elevation of activity of 2'-5' oligo-adenylate synthetase RNase L levels Lymphocyte subset Low NK activity Impaired ACTH and cortisol responses Melatonin levels Levels of DHEA and DHEA-S Opioid system and AVP Changes in growth hormone level Decrease of acylcarnitine Reduced folic acid level Levels of various B vitamins and vitamin C Levels of sodium L-tryptophan levels L-carnitine levels Coenzyme Q10 levels Levels of essential fatty acids Levels of magnesium in RBC Decreased level of zinc in serum NK: natural killer ACTH: adrenocorticotropic hormone Vernon, 2005 Patarca, 2001 Patarca, 2001 Nijs, 2005 Nijs, 2005 Patarca, 2001 Whiteside, 1998 Cleare, 2003 Cleare, 2003 Cleare, 2003 Parker, 2001 Allain, 1997 Kuratsune, 1994 Jacobson, 1993 Werbach, 2000 Werbach, 2000 Werbach, 2000 Werbach, 2000 Werbach, 2000 Werbach, 2000 Werbach, 2000 Maes, 2006 DHEA: dehydroepiandrostenedione DHEA-S: dehydroepiandrostenedione sulphate VP: arginine vasopressin RBC: red blood cell Invest in ME (Charity Nr. 1114035) Page 5/34
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