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EBV may trigger autoreactivity and cause ME/CFS – BIH-led CURE-ME research project awarded federal funding
The consortium project CURE-ME (Characterizing AUtoimmuneREsponses and Defining Targets in ME/CFS) between the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH), Charité –Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) will receive a total of €1,817,508 in grant funding from Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through 2027. Led by immunologist Prof. Birgit Sawitzki, the consortium aims to study the pathomechanisms of post-infectious ME/CFS, identify biomarkers for a more precise and early diagnosis, and develop innovative approaches for new treatment strategies. Its research will focus on examining the role of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) as the driving force behind misdirected, autoreactive T and B cell responses, and thus as the cause of ME/CFS.
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, or ME/CFS for short, is a chronic multisystemic disease that often leads to significant physical and mental impairment and in most cases develops following an acute infection.
Currently, there are very limited treatment options for people living with ME/CFS, as scientists don’t fully understand what causes the disease and have yet to develop a targeted therapy. ME/CFS occurs not only in adults, but also in children and adolescents. The disease is associated with severely restricted social participation, especially in younger patients, but it’s still completely unclear whether the mechanisms responsible for the disease are similar for adolescents and adults.
Across all age groups, however, the Epstein-Barr virus is associated with the occurrence of autoimmunity and the development of ME/CFS. “EBV can contribute to the emergence of post-infectious ME/CFS in many ways, either directly through homologies to autoantigens as a result of a primary EBV infection or indirectly through the infection of autoreactive B cells,” explains Birgit Sawitzki, BIH Professor for Translational Immunology. Working together with Charité Profs. Carmen Scheibenbogen, Thomas Dörner and Harald Prüß as well as Prof. Uta Behrends from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), she wants to not only identify EBV cross-reactive and other (e.g. neuronal) autoantibody profiles for a more precise and early diagnosis of the disease, but also to investigate the underlying dysregulations in T and B cell communication, with the aim of laying the basis for targeted therapies and facilitating translation into clinical practice. The study of disrupted T and B cell communication will focus on EBV-related changes in the balance between stimulating and inhibiting surface receptors, the so-called checkpoint molecules.
The research team does not interpret the different organ manifestations and symptoms of ME/CFS as a random coincidence of independent pathophysiologies, but sees the infection as setting off a causal chain of disruptions in various organ systems. The consortium can draw on extensive expertise in the study of autoimmune diseases and ME/CFS as well as on the clinical focus areas of Charité and TUM, which provide access to unique cross-age cohorts and sample collections.