2. Academic Validation
  3. Potential of Activin B as a Clinical Biomarker in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)

Potential of Activin B as a Clinical Biomarker in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)

  • Biomolecules. 2021 Aug 11;11(8):1189. doi: 10.3390/biom11081189.
Sabine Gravelsina 1,  Zaiga Nora-Krukle 1,  Anda Vilmane 1,  Simons Svirskis 1,  Katrine Vecvagare 1,  Angelika Krumina 2,  Modra Murovska 1
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Institute of Microbiology and Virology, Rīga Stradiņš University, 5 Ratsupites Str., LV-1067 Riga, Latvia.
  • 2 Department of Infectology, Riga Stradins University, LV-1007 Riga, Latvia.
PMID: 34439855 DOI: 10.3390/biom11081189
Abstract

Reliable serum biomarkers are of immense need for diagnostic purposes of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)-a disabling and complex disease for which diagnosis is mainly based on clinical symptoms. The aim of this study was to evaluate a possible diagnostic potential of Activin B by directly comparing 134 cases of ME/CFS with 54 healthy controls. Analyses of human Activin B level in plasma samples were performed using a validated human Activin B ELISA assay. The results of the study show that Activin B levels did not differ statistically significantly between ME/CFS patients and healthy controls (p = 0.6511). No gender or age-related differences in Activin B levels were observed in the ME/CFS group and healthy controls. The level of Activin B tended to decrease with increasing visual analogue scale score (r = -0.2004; p = 0.5085) nevertheless the results obtained so far does not support the clinical utility of Activin B as a biomarker for ME/CFS.

Keywords

ME/CFS; human activin B; visual analogue scale.

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