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ME/CFS Science
@mecfsscience.org

1) We wrote a new article on cell and tissue analysis using genetic data. For ME/CFS, the results strongly point to neurons. One of the top hits is the medium spiny neuron, located in a region deep inside the brain called the striatum.

mecfsscience.orgCell and tissue enrichment in ME/CFS - ME/CFS ScienceBy matching DNA results with gene expression databases researchers can determine the tissues and cellContinue readingCell and tissue enrichment in ME/CFS

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Katie Holten
@katieholten.bsky.social

Great work. Thanks for sharing. Neurons! I'm no expert, but as someone living with LC I believe 100% that the brain is deeply involved, so I hope more research can be done into this. Can I ask—what is the connection with hedgehogs? 🦔

ME/CFS Science
@mecfsscience.org

It's a reference to the 'spiny' neurons mentioned in the article. We try to find artistic photos that match the content of the article in some way. It's a bit far fetched but we want to avoid using the same images of brains or DNA in multiple blog posts. We also like animals a lot!

ME/CFS Science
@mecfsscience.org

2) How does this analysis work? It’s relatively simple: we use DNA results from genetic studies such as DecodeME and match them with RNA databases that give an indication of gene expression in different tissues and cell types.

ME/CFS Science
@mecfsscience.org

3) The analysis tests if genes associated with ME/CFS are more commonly used in certain tissues or cell types. You can also use other categories of genes, for example grouped based on biological function.

ME/CFS Science
@mecfsscience.org

4) The graph below shows how powerful this technique is. It picks out the relevant cell type in multiple diseases: immune cells in rheumatoid arthritis and asthma, neurons in schizophrenia and epilepsy and pancreatic cells for diabetes.

ME/CFS Science
@mecfsscience.org

5) These results were from a landmark 2018 study by Finucane et al. Adding ME/CFS to this analysis pipeline gives results that strongly point to the central nervous system. Using an immunological dataset (ImmGenn) gave no significant hits.