Levine P H, Whiteside T L, Friberg D, Bryant J, Colclough G, Herberman R B
National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, USA.
Clin Immunol Immunopathol. 1998 Jul;88(1):96-104. doi: 10.1006/clin.1998.4554.
A family was identified with 5 of 6 siblings and 3 other immediate family members who had developed chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) as adults. All 8 met criteria for the CFS case definition as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sixty-eight blood samples were obtained over a period of 2 years from 20 family members (8 affected, 12 unaffected) and 8 normal controls. All blood samples were tested for NK activity in 4-h 51Cr-release assays and for the number of circulating CD3-CD56(+) and CD3-CD16(+) by flow cytometry. NK activity of the affected immediate family members (cases, n = 8) was significantly lower (P = 0.006, two-sided) than that of the concurrently tested normal controls. The results for unaffected family members were intermediate between these two groups, and the pairwise comparison of unaffected family members to either cases or controls showed no statistically significant difference (P = 0.29, two-sided). No differences were seen between the groups in the absolute number of CD3-CD56(+) or CD3-CD16(+) lymphocytes in the peripheral blood. Familial CFS was associated with persistently low NK activity, which was documented in 6/8 cases and in 4/12 unaffected family members. In the family with 5 of 6 siblings who had documented CFS, 2 of their offspring had pediatric malignancies. Low NK activity in this family may be a result of a genetically determined immunologic abnormality predisposing to CFS and cancer.
一个家庭被确认有6个兄弟姐妹中的5个以及另外3名直系家庭成员在成年后患上了慢性疲劳综合征（CFS）。这8人全部符合美国疾病控制与预防中心推荐的CFS病例定义标准。在两年时间里，从20名家庭成员（8名患病，12名未患病）和8名正常对照者身上采集了68份血样。所有血样都通过4小时的51铬释放试验检测了自然杀伤细胞（NK）活性，并通过流式细胞术检测了循环中的CD3-CD56(+)和CD3-CD16(+)细胞数量。患病直系家庭成员（病例组，n = 8）的NK活性显著低于同期检测的正常对照者（双侧P = 0.006）。未患病家庭成员的结果介于这两组之间，未患病家庭成员与病例组或对照组的两两比较均未显示出统计学上的显著差异（双侧P = 0.29）。各组外周血中CD3-CD56(+)或CD3-CD16(+)淋巴细胞的绝对数量没有差异。家族性CFS与持续低NK活性有关，在8例病例中有6例以及12名未患病家庭成员中有4例存在这种情况。在有6个兄弟姐妹中有5个被确诊患有CFS的家庭中，他们的2个后代患有儿童期恶性肿瘤。这个家庭中NK活性低可能是由一种遗传决定的免疫异常导致的，这种异常易引发CFS和癌症。
