Clinical and investigative medicine. Médecine clinique et experimentale
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Comparative Study
Differential heat shock protein responses to strenuous standardized exercise in chronic fatigue syndrome patients and matched healthy controls.
Since physical exertion is known to exacerbate the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and metabolic changes and including oxidative stress can modulate heat shock protein (HSP) expression responses, we sought to determine whether HSP expression is altered in CFS patients before and after exercise. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were examined from 6 chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) patients and 7 controls before and after a standardized treadmill exercise. Basal hsp27 was significantly higher among CFS patients compared to controls, and decreased immediately post-exercise, remaining below basal levels even at 7 days. A similar pattern was observed for HSP60, which gradually decreased in CFS patients but increased in controls post-exercise. These findings suggest an abnormal adaptive response to oxidative stress in CFS, and raise the possibility that HSP profiling may provide a more objective biologic marker for this illness. ⋯ These preliminary findings suggest an abnormal or defective adaptive response to oxidative stress in CFS, and raise the possibility that HSP profiling may provide a more objective biologic marker for this illness.
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Despite international concerns about declining numbers of clinical researchers, the number of clinical researchers in Canada remains undocumented. ⋯ The number of Canadian investigators with funding for clinical research from CIHR was low. Although the ideal ratio of clinical to basic research capacity is not known, the possibility that the gap between laboratory-based research and clinical research is larger in Canada than in the United States is discussed.