Article:
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and Cancer Related Fatigue (CRF): two ‘fatigue’ syndromes with overlapping symptoms and possibly related aetiologies
- Source: Neuromuscular Disorders, Dec 1, 2012
By Ugo Rovigatti
[Note: The fee-based full text of this paper can be found here (at bottom), part of a collection of papers on muscle fatigue published Dec 1. Prof Ugo Rovigatti, an internationally known cancer researcher / virologist, discovered his prime suspect as a trigger for chronic fatigue syndrome, dubbed Micro-Foci inducing viruses, in 1992. They were first isolated from pediatric lymphoma and neuroblastoma tumors (cancers of the lymphatic and nervous systems) by electron microscopy.]
Abstract:
In July 2010, at the Muscle Fatigue Meeting,* I presented an overview of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Cancer Related Fatigue, emphasizing a critical interpretation of the potential association between Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Cancer Related Fatigue and a newly discovered retrovirus: Xenotropic Murine Related Virus.
Since this association was hotly debated at that time, I suggested at the Meeting that it was wrong and most likely due to the identification of the wrong virus culprit.
Today, 20 months after the Meeting, the first part of our prediction has turned out to be correct, as Xenotropic Murine Related Virus was shown to be a laboratory-created artifact.
Still, the potential association of fatigue syndromes with an infection (most likely viral) is sustained by a plethora of evidence and this overview will initially summarize data suggesting prior viral infection(s).
The principal hypothesized mechanisms for both peripheral and central Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Cancer Related Fatigue will be then summarized, also indicating plausible associations and triggering factors. [Neuromuscular fatigue can be either central, manifesting as overall sense of energy deprivation; or peripheral, local muscle-specific.]
All evidence accrued so far suggests that further research work should be performed in this interesting area and in order to identify an infectious agent for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Cancer Related Fatigue.
One candidate RNA virus, Micro-Foci inducing Virus, will be described in this overview.
* Held in Pisa, Italy, in July 23-24, 2010 as a satellite meeting of the 12th International Congress on Neuromuscular Diseases.
Source: Neuromuscular Disorders, Dec 1, 2012. Vol 22, Supp 3, pp S235-S241. DOI:10.1016/j.nmd.2012.10.018, by Rovigatti, U. Department of Oncology, Transplantation and New Biomedical Technologies, University of Pisa Medical School, Pisa, Italy. [Email: profrovigatti@gmail.com]
