Journal of IiME Volume 6 Issue 1 (June 2012) treatment of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Abnormal B-cell activity has long been suspected as playing a key role in (ME)CFS. As early as 2006 Maes and colleagues…presented evidence of increased IgM antibodies directed specifically at cellular products of oxidative and nitrosative stress. That same year, our work with Dr Suzanne Vernon and her colleagues also produced evidence of sustained oxidative stress in circulating immune cells based on their gene expression….Evidence of altered status in the B-lymphocytes of (ME)CFS patients was found in a study of gene expression conducted by our group…Further work…conducted with Drs Nancy Klimas and Mary Ann Fletcher of the University of Miami documented immune signalling patterns suggestive of an over-active Th2 or B-cell mediated immune response….In a nutshell, these positive clinical trial results are not only welcome but they represent a logical continuation of a line of investigation that has been ongoing” (http://www.research1st.com/2011/10/21/broder ick). Also commenting on the Norwegian study, Professor Nancy Klimas said: “The recent study of Drs Oystein Fluge and Olav Mella demonstrating significant improvement in ME/CFS patients treated with the B-cell depleting agent Rituximab is a key study for our field. By showing that depleting B cells can cause dramatic improvement, the investigators point the field in the direction of autoimmunity, and autoimmunity caused by an autoantibody. However, there is one other plausible explanation: that the B cells were acting as a reservoir of infection and by depleting the B cell line the viral load can be brought down to the point of suppression by the immune system….I believe that both of these theories deserve vigorous scientific pursuit….Many clinicians fail to realise the severity of the illness that has been termed ME/CFS. This is a profoundly ill population” (http://bergento.no/the-mecfs-study-by-mellaand-fluge-is-a-key-study-for-our-field/ ). Conclusion There can be no possible doubt that ME/CFS is essentially a disorder of the immune system. Given the extent of the evidence-base (of which the above illustrations may barely scratch the surface), it is incomprehensible how the Wessely School psychiatrists continue to wield such powerful influence over the ME/CFS arena. Many people deem this situation to be a scandal of epic proportions. As Dr Vance Spence, a respected medical scientist specialising in vascular medicine in ME/CFS, said in an article on 25th May 2004 in the Derry Journal (“The ME Scandal”): “I can think of no other illness where such a powerful schism exists between those who suffer from it and those whose responsibility is to care for them. How can it be that an illness that affects between 100,000 and 200,000 persons of all ages in the UK and maybe as many as one million in the United States of America is no longer referred to in medical textbooks, is not cited in medical research indexing systems and rarely features in the syllabus of undergraduate medical education in medical schools? Why have the experiences of these patients been largely ignored, their testimonies…undervalued, even ridiculed, and their requests for assistance met often with prejudice and disbelief? (Co-Cure RES, ACT 8th June 2004). Could the answer lie in just three words: The Wessely School? On 1st August 2004 John Herd re-published an article he had written seven years earlier (in 1997), saying how profoundly rhetoric has permeated the (ME)CFS arena, and that the tragedy of lasting misperceptions means that it is not enough for doctors to conduct their research and see patients in their clinics – they must speak up about their evidence that ME/CFS is not a psychiatric disorder: “Throwing forth theories of psychiatric causations of ME/CFS…is not science. Science, hard science, is objective….The proof that transforms theory into science is concrete evidence found in cells…Psychiatric research is…highly interpretive… (it) lacks the concrete evidence of biologic research (and thus) can be driven by its original theories instead of…concrete evidence… “Science” seems to mean different things to different people. Speculation, especially if it comes from a well-known name, in some people’s eye becomes fact as soon as it appears in a peer Invest in ME (Charity Nr. 1114035) www.investinme.org Page 96 of 108
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