Hussein, Mona, Fathy, Wael, Abdelaleem, Enas A et al. · Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2022 · DOI
Researchers measured a molecule called miR-320a in the blood of people with fibromyalgia and compared it to healthy people. They found that fibromyalgia patients had higher levels of this molecule, and those with higher levels tended to have worse symptoms like pain, fatigue, sleep problems, and depression. However, this molecule did not appear to affect how the brain processes pain signals.
This study identifies miR-320a as a potential blood biomarker associated with fibromyalgia symptom severity, which overlaps clinically with ME/CFS in fatigue and multisystem complaints. Understanding molecular mechanisms linking microRNAs to symptom burden could inform both conditions' pathophysiology and potentially guide future diagnostic or therapeutic strategies, especially given the frequent comorbidity of fibromyalgia and ME/CFS.
This study does not establish that miR-320a causes fibromyalgia symptoms—only that levels correlate with severity. The lack of association with objective neurophysiological markers (SSEPs) suggests miR-320a may reflect symptom reporting or peripheral inflammation rather than central pain processing mechanisms. Additionally, findings in fibromyalgia may not directly apply to ME/CFS without separate validation.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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Primary citation
Hussein, Mona, Fathy, Wael, Abdelaleem, Enas A, Nasser, Mona, Yehia, Ahmed, & Elanwar, Rehab (2022). The Impact of Micro RNA-320a Serum Level on Severity of Symptoms and Cerebral Processing of Pain in Patients with Fibromyalgia.. Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.). https://doi.org/10.1093/pm/pnac076
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-hussein-2022-impact-micro,
author = {Hussein, Mona and Fathy, Wael and Abdelaleem, Enas A and Nasser, Mona and Yehia, Ahmed and Elanwar, Rehab},
title = {The Impact of Micro RNA-320a Serum Level on Severity of Symptoms and Cerebral Processing of Pain in Patients with Fibromyalgia.},
journal = {Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.)},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.1093/pm/pnac076},
note = {PubMed: 35587745},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/hussein-2022-impact-micro},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-25. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/hussein-2022-impact-micro
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