Dr Amy Proal from PolyBio Research Foundation recently updated us on the progress of her project searching for viruses in tissue and nerve samples from people with ME/CFS. This project was funded by ME Research UK with the financial support of the Gordon Parish Charitable Trust.
The viruses most associated with ME/CFS (including polio-type enteroviruses and herpesviruses) can infect nerves and ‘hide’ in tissue, and may therefore remain in the body after an initial infection.
Dr Proal and her team (which also includes researchers at Berkeley National Laboratory and Harvard Medical School) are using new computer-based technologies to identify viruses in human tissue samples from people with ME/CFS and from healthy control subjects. They hope to clarify which of these viral species may contribute to the disease process in ME/CFS.
In addition to setting up and optimising the techniques being used, the researchers have been recruiting participants for the study, and have started collecting and processing the various tissue and nerve samples they require. Much of the analysis takes place in the next phase of the project, and we are looking forward to seeing those findings in due course.
