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Winter 2003  

Association Awards Research Grants

The CFIDS Association of America will fund two new research studies this year with more than $155,000 in grants.

The first recipient is Theodore C. Friedman, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine. His pilot study is titled, “Decreased Cerebral Blood Flow and Ortho-stasis in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.”

Friedman’s research will look at the possible causes behind the decreased blood flow to the brain that occurs in some people with CFIDS. This phenomenon could be due to a decreased ability to produce a hormone called renin. Renin, which is made in the kidneys, stimulates the production of other hormones that help conserve salt in the body. Without enough salt, blood flow to the brain may be impaired — resulting in the onset of a number of CFIDS symptoms.

A preliminary study found defects in the renin production mechanism of 19 of 21 people with CFIDS .

The second grant has been awarded to Giris Jacob, MD, DSc, director of the Jacob Recanati Autonomic Dysfunction Center, Rambam Medical Center, in Haifa, Israel.

His study is called, “The Interaction between the Cytokine Immune System and Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) in Chronic Fatigue.”

Jacob and his team will examine the possible link between a persistently overactive immune system and CFIDS . The researchers will study 50 patients have recently suffered from flu-like illnesses and have felt fatigued for at least three months. This patient group provides a rare opportunity to look at people who are just developing CFIDS — as well as some who may recover.

Jacob will test the patients for the levels of certain cytokines — proteins produced by the immune system — in their blood. In particular, the scientists will test levels of cytokines named interleukin 1 (IL-1), interleukin 6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha.

The study also will test the hypothesis that overactive immune systems are responsible for problems with the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS controls involuntary functions such as heart beat and blood pressure. Finding a link between the two body systems may lead to future studies that improve both the diagnosis and treatment of CFIDS .

These projects were chosen using a two-level peer-review process that began with the evaluation of 37 letters of intent and 11 full applications. Since its inception, The CFIDS Association has issued more than $3.8 million in research grants.