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1990年に木谷照夫,倉恒弘彦らにより日本第一号の患者が発見された筋痛性脳脊髄炎/慢性疲労症候群は,慢性で日常生活に支障をきたす激しい疲労・倦怠感を伴う疾患であり,1988年に米国疾患管理予防センターが原因病原体を見出すための調査基準を作成し,世界的にその診断基準が広まったものである。かなりのオーバーラップがみられる疾患に線維筋痛症があり,また,機能性ディスペプシアなども含めて,機能性身体症候群という大きな疾患概念も存在する。客観的診断のためのバイオマーカー探索も鋭意行われ,わが国におけるPET研究によって,脳内のセロトニン神経系の異常やさまざまな症状と神経炎症の強い関わりなどが明らかになってきた。一方,このような最新の知見を踏まえた治療法の開発研究も鋭意行われている。
Abstract
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disease characterized by chronic, profound, disabling, and unexplained fatigue. The first patient with ME/CFS in Japan was identified and described in 1990 by Prof. Teruo Kitani and Dr. Hirohiko Kuratsune of the Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University. Since then, a variety of studies have been performed to determine the objective biomarkers of the disease. Although it is hypothesized that brain inflammation is involved in the pathophysiology of ME/CFS, there is to date no direct evidence of neuroinflammation in patients with ME/CFS. Our recent positron emission tomography study successfully demonstrated that microglial activation, which is linked to neuroinflammation, occurs in widespread brain areas in patients with ME/CFS, and is associated with the severity of the neuropsychological symptoms. Thus, evaluation of neuroinflammation in patients with ME/CFS may be essential for understanding the core pathophysiology of the disease, and for developing objective diagnostic criteria and effective medical treatments for ME/CFS. Here, we describe disease-related pathophysiological findings and topics, and discuss the history of the diagnostic and therapeutic attempts based on previous findings in Japan.
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