Following a guideline published in September 2023, which promoted interdisciplinary ME/CFS research, 21 new ME/CFS research projects in Germany – including six new collaborations, have been announced – and funded, by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
With funding of around 15 million euros, over the next three years the research projects aim to investigate the development of the ME/CFS, and identify potential biomarkers for the disease – this follows an announcement that ZonMw in the Netherlands have awarded Assistant Professor Rob Wüst of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam — currently working on research funded by ME Research UK, a grant for his research project entitled, ‘From sick to sicker with exercise: deciphering the base of post-exertional malaise in post-COVID’.
Notably, ZonMw is also funding four additional research projects involving Prof Wüst as a co-applicant; the funding is in part implementation of a 28.5 million euros 10-year programme under the Dutch Minister of Medical Care and Sport, Tamara van Ark’s, 2021 direction to ZonMw to carry out a biomedical research programme on ME/CFS, which has already seen a grant in excess of seven million euros being awarded to Amsterdam University Medical Centre (Amsterdam UMC) with a further 4 million euros for a second consortium in UMC Groningen.
Investment from both Germany and the Netherlands is in stark contrast with the funding allocated to ME/CFS research in the UK. In response to a Written Question from Tessa Munt MP asking if an assessment will be made of the potential merits of ring-fencing biomedical research funding for ME (UIN 10996 24 October 2024), Andrew Gwynne MP Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care), stated:
“Over the last five years, the NIHR has invested over £3.6 million in research programme funding for ME/CFS. This includes over £1.5 million to the DecodeME study, co-funded with the MRC, which aims to understand if there is a genetic component to the condition, and in doing so increase our understanding of ME/CFS to support the development of diagnostic tests and targeted treatments.”
While it is encouraging to see Germany and the Netherlands allocating funding to essential ME/CFS research, much is still to be done in the UK – in fact ME Research UK recognised that in the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) interim delivery plan there was “no commitment to ring-fence dedicated funding for ME/CFS research, to reflect the disease’s prevalence and severity”.
What will the new BMBF funded projects investigate?
BMBF states that “The overall aim of all projects is to better understand the potential disease mechanisms of ME/CFS and to develop suitable biomarkers”.
Topics of the projects include:
- The deciphering of the mechanisms that lead to the development of the cardinal symptom of ME/CFS; post-exertional malaise (PEM).
- Research and development of biomarkers for autoimmunity in children and adolescents as well as adults (CURE-ME).
- Comprehensive studies on changes in the metabolism and immune system (MIRACLE).
- The dysfunctional interaction between the immune system and the neurotransmitter serotonin, with different animal models (mouse and hamster) for ME/CFS to be developed for the first time (SERIMM).
- The dysfunction of neuronal networks in connection with sleep disorders and other core symptoms of the disease will be examined (SLEEP-NEURO-PATH).
- Impaired vascular function and blood flow in ME/CFS, while also investigating mitochondria in muscle cells (VADYS-ME).
There is also one stand-alone project that will investigate the formation, frequency and role of specific antibodies – G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) antibodies, which have been linked to diseases which, like ME/CFS, are diverse (heterogenous) in nature, in children and adults with ME/CFS (FAME).
