Research Hints Fibromyalgia May Be An Autoimmune Disease

[jesse_the_k]

Much thanks to forests_of_fire for linking me to this study. Twenty-three researchers in London, Liverpool and Sweden have replicated inducing FM symptoms in mice by transplanting immune cells from human fibro folk. Fibro may be an autoimmune disease (which could mean more treatment options and less gaslighting).

Press Release from Karolinska: https://news.ki.se/autoantibodies-a-possible-contributor-to-fibromyalgia

Details in the open access, peer-reviewed "Journal of Clinical Investigation"
https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI144201

Full text

Passive transfer of fibromyalgia symptoms from patients to mice

Andreas Goebel, Emerson Krock, Clive Gentry, Mathilde R. Israel, Alexandra Jurczak, Carlos Morado Urbina, Katalin Sandor, Nisha Vastani, Margot Maurer, Ulku Cuhadar, Serena Sensi, Yuki Nomura, Joana Menezes, Azar Baharpoor, Louisa Brieskorn, Angelica Sandström, Jeanette Tour, Diana Kadetoff, Lisbet Haglund, Eva Kosek, Stuart Bevan, Camilla I. Svensson, David A. Andersson

Abstract:

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is characterized by widespread pain and tenderness, and patients typically experience fatigue and emotional distress. The etiology and pathophysiology of fibromyalgia are not fully explained and there are no effective drug treatments. Here we show that IgG from FMS patients produced sensory hypersensitivity by sensitizing nociceptive neurons. Mice treated with IgG from FMS patients displayed increased sensitivity to noxious mechanical and cold stimulation, and nociceptive fibers in skin-nerve preparations from mice treated with FMS IgG displayed an increased responsiveness to cold and mechanical stimulation. These mice also displayed reduced locomotor activity, reduced paw grip strength, and a loss of intraepidermal innervation. In contrast, transfer of IgG-depleted serum from FMS patients or IgG from healthy control subjects had no effect. Patient IgG did not activate naive sensory neurons directly. IgG from FMS patients labeled satellite glial cells and neurons in vivo and in vitro, as well as myelinated fiber tracts and a small number of macrophages and endothelial cells in mouse dorsal root ganglia (DRG), but no cells in the spinal cord. Furthermore, FMS IgG bound to human DRG. Our results demonstrate that IgG from FMS patients produces painful sensory hypersensitivities by sensitizing peripheral nociceptive afferents and suggest that therapies reducing patient IgG titers may be effective for fibromyalgia.

I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia 44 years ago. I was able to manage symptoms through balancing meds and activity. When I got the bronchitis-that-never-ended 11 years later, I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome aka myalgic encephalomyelitis and had to quit working. Along the way, I’ve heard "you’re a hypochondriac, an hysteric, a somatizer*, and (many times) "get out of my waiting room!"

Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I’ve met enough people in my situation to know that the medical establishment just hasn’t caught up yet. I hope that this new research encourages more investigation of fibro as an autoimmune disease. Coupled with examining why long COVID (another post-viral fatigue syndrome) happens, I may actually know why I’m impaired before I pass from this earth.

* autocarrot kept changing that to womanizer

Comments

[peachpai]

That's amazing news! I really hope it helps the medical field wake the fuck up.

[jesse_the_k]

From your mouth to Zoe's gun.