National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases, Menzies Health Institute, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia.
School of Medical Science, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia.
BMC Neurol. 2019 Aug 24;19(1):207. doi: 10.1186/s12883-019-1433-0.
Cytokines in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease (CFS/ME/SEID) patients compared with healthy controls have been extensively studied. However, the evidence regarding whether a baseline difference between CFS/ME/SEID patients and the normal population remains unclear. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the literature regarding cytokines in CFS/ME/SEID and whether there is a significant difference in cytokine levels between this patient group and the normal population.
Pubmed, Scopus, Medline (EBSCOHost), and EMBASE databases were searched to source relevant studies for CFS/ME/SEID. The review included any studies examining cytokines in CFS/ME/SEID patients compared with healthy controls. Results of the literature search were summarised according to aspects of their study design and outcome measures, namely, cytokines. Quality assessment was also completed to summarise the level of evidence available.
A total of 16,702 publications were returned using our search terms. After screening of papers according to our inclusion and exclusion criteria, 15 studies were included in the review. All the included studies were observational case control studies. Ten of the studies identified measured serum cytokines in CFS/ME/SEID patients, and four measured cytokines in other physiological fluids of CFS/ME/SEID patients. The overall quality assessment revealed most papers included in this systematic review to be consistent.
Despite the availability of moderate quality studies, the findings of this review are inconclusive as to whether cytokines play any definitive role in CFS/ME/SEID, and consequently, they would not serve as reliable biomarkers. Therefore, in light of these results, it is recommended that further efforts toward a diagnostic test and treatment for CFS/ME/SEID continue to be developed in a range of research fields.
慢性疲劳综合征/肌痛性脑脊髓炎/全身性运动不耐受疾病（CFS/ME/SEID）患者的细胞因子与健康对照组相比已经得到了广泛研究。然而，CFS/ME/SEID 患者与正常人群之间是否存在基线差异的证据尚不清楚。本研究旨在对 CFS/ME/SEID 细胞因子的文献进行系统评价，以及该患者组与正常人群之间细胞因子水平是否存在显著差异。
通过 Pubmed、Scopus、Medline（EBSCOHost）和 EMBASE 数据库搜索 CFS/ME/SEID 的相关研究。本综述包括比较 CFS/ME/SEID 患者和健康对照组细胞因子的任何研究。根据研究设计和结果测量（即细胞因子）方面总结文献检索结果。还进行了质量评估，以总结现有证据水平。
使用我们的搜索词共返回了 16702 篇出版物。根据我们的纳入和排除标准筛选论文后，共有 15 项研究纳入本综述。所有纳入的研究均为观察性病例对照研究。其中 10 项研究确定了 CFS/ME/SEID 患者血清中的细胞因子，4 项研究确定了 CFS/ME/SEID 患者其他生理液中的细胞因子。总体质量评估显示，本系统评价中纳入的大多数论文都具有一致性。
尽管有中等质量的研究，但本综述的结果对于细胞因子是否在 CFS/ME/SEID 中发挥任何明确作用仍不确定，因此它们不能作为可靠的生物标志物。因此，鉴于这些结果，建议在一系列研究领域继续努力开发 CFS/ME/SEID 的诊断测试和治疗方法。
