Ovejero, Tamara, Sadones, Océane, Sánchez-Fito, Teresa et al. · International journal of molecular sciences · 2020 · DOI
Researchers discovered that fibromyalgia patients have unusual activity of genetic sequences called transposable elements (pieces of DNA that can move and copy themselves) in their immune cells. This overactivity was linked to higher levels of interferon proteins, which trigger inflammation and flu-like symptoms. This finding may help explain why fibromyalgia patients often feel sick even when they don't have an actual infection.
Since ME/CFS and fibromyalgia frequently co-occur and both involve unexplained inflammatory symptoms, understanding shared genetic dysregulation mechanisms could lead to better diagnostic markers and targeted therapies. This work identifies a potentially modifiable immunological pathway that affects a large subset of FM patients and may inform future ME/CFS biomarker research.
This study does not prove that HERV activation causes fibromyalgia or ME/CFS symptoms—it shows only an association in a small patient group. The study cannot establish whether HERV overexpression is a primary driver of disease or a consequence of immune dysregulation. It also does not identify which specific genomic loci are affected or establish therapeutic relevance.
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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