Large-Scale Biomarker Project (BioQuest)
Study Aim
Identify a biochemical signature for ME/CFS that can be conveniently evaluated through a blood test.
Investigators
- Jonas Bergquist, MD, PhD
- Danielle Meadows, PhD
Updates and Potential
- We have received approval to incorporate plasma samples collected via the Chronic Fatigue Initiative in our study.
- We expect to begin testing samples by the end of 2025.
STUDY HYPOTHESIS AND DESCRIPTION
The absence of a molecular test for ME/CFS is a widely acknowledged challenge to healthcare providers and burden to patients. Currently, diagnosis relies on clinical features that are imprecisely defined, often subjective, overlap substantially with other disorders, and often require referral to a limited number of specialist centers. An ideal test will measure objective biochemical signals (biomarkers) that can be easily sampled in a primary care setting, such as serum or plasma obtained from a simple blood draw.
Various biomarker signatures have been proposed for ME/CFS, but they often lack independent validation, rely on small sample sizes, require specialized techniques (such as multi-color flow cytometry or single-cell Raman spectroscopy), use hard to access biological samples (such as cerebrospinal fluid), or compare between patients and healthy people rather than clinically relevant controls. Therefore, it remains a pressing need to identify new signatures that are robustly validated and readily translatable into the clinic.
OBJECTIVES
- Conduct large-scale biosample testing, including proteomics, metabolomics / lipidomics, cytokines, and immunoassays.
- Combine biosample testing with clinical and pathology labs and demographic information.
- Utilize bioinformatics and AI techniques to identify a signature of approx. 5-20 protein and/or metabolite biomarkers unique to ME/CFS.
- Incorporate classification of subtypes of ME/CFS with biomarkers specific to those subtypes.
