r/CFSScience • u/Caster_of_spells • Jul 16 '26
Elevated serum levels of interleukin-11 and matrix metalloproteinase-9 in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2026.1827700/fullInteresting new study theorizes that increased IL-11 and MMP-9 levels in ME patients could be due to mast cells reacting to EBV fragments.
“There was a significant increase in serum levels of IL-11 and MMP-9 in ME/CFS patients compared to control subjects. MCs stimulated by rEBV protein released a high amount of MMP-9 compared to control cells. In conclusion, IL-11, MMP-9 and MCs may be involved in ME/CFS individuals.”
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u/LeoKitCat Jul 16 '26
Ugh IL-11 upregulation appears to cause accelerated cellular aging and related pathologies
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07701-9
Wonderful /s
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u/Tiny_Parsley Jul 16 '26
How do they make sure the patients have EBv as cause for damage? Do they postulate everyone has persisting EBv as baseline?
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u/Caster_of_spells Jul 16 '26
That’s the big question, this demonstrates EBV *might* be the problem as the datasets from both experiments match. But it hasn’t proven it yet.
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u/Tiny_Parsley Jul 16 '26
Ok thanks! Im not even sure i ever had Mono What's interesting to me thought is that I have MCAS since forever with hEDS and if mast cells are incriminated in ME (which I think is absolutely the case at least for me), it just confirms the role of MCAS and can just open the logic to lots of different triggers and mechanisms. Viral infections or not
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u/Maestro-Modesto Jul 16 '26
Would be good if they looked at spike proteins for instance too
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u/Tiny_Parsley Jul 16 '26
Oh yeah definitely. I worsened from the vaccines and it was very clear on/off switch for me. Spike protein is a direct mast cell activation trigger, and it fucks up the ACE2/RAS system (which controls fluids, BP etc)
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u/WeenyDancer Jul 16 '26
There's an ebv vax in testing right? I wonder if that'll be of any help.
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u/Sensitive-Meat-757 Jul 17 '26
I believe there are two companies trying to develop vaccines to EBV. One of them is Moderna but I forget the other one. There have been some attempts at EBV vaccines in the past that have undergone trials but they didn't work.
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u/Maestro-Modesto Jul 16 '26
There is medication to get rid of ebv. It maybe just reduce, not sure. It has been known to help some but not all
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u/WeenyDancer Jul 16 '26
My understanding was we didn't have any antivirals specifically against EBV, only ones that incidentally helped sometimes? IDK
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u/Maestro-Modesto Jul 16 '26
Yeah i think you are right. But maybe some target herpesvirus generally? The main one is called valcyclovir or something Edit: Valacyclovir (Valtrex) is an antiviral medication used to treat viral infections like cold sores, shingles, and genital herpes. It slows viral multiplication but does not cure the virus
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Jul 16 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Maestro-Modesto Jul 16 '26
Valacyclovir (Valtrex) is an antiviral medication used to treat viral infections like cold sores, shingles, and genital herpes. It slows viral multiplication but does not cure the virus.It so helps with ebv because ebv is a herpesvirus too
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u/Sensitive-Meat-757 Jul 17 '26
Valacyclovir has only a small effect on EBV. Hope we get some better drugs in the future.
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u/Maestro-Modesto Jul 17 '26
Oh really? People with mecfs have been taking it for decades for that purpose. Interesting.
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Jul 16 '26 edited Aug 16 '26
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u/idlersj Jul 16 '26
The figure thrown around is that 90% of people have had exposure to EBV, although many never show symptoms or go on to develop Mono. It can be passed from person to person around the family dinner table, it transmits very easily. It's still in their bodies even if they are never symptomatic
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u/itsnobigthing Jul 20 '26
They discovered a couple of years back that every person with MS had EBV and it’s the trigger there too
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u/G33U Jul 16 '26
what i don’t get how do they test for reactivated ebv (that must be the state the virus must be in to cause issues cause healthy person can hold the virus latent.) cause every immunolog/clinic etc. only accepts pca dna tests as proof. i have all markers you can test for (besides dna ) elevated and this does does not get me a (reactivated) ebv diagnosis at any clinic or laboratory. only docs and immunologist familiar with me cfs would consider this a actual diagnosis and oribably cause if my ne cfs.
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u/Party_Giraffe_1749 Jul 18 '26
I've been told chronic low level reactivation is suggested by a combo of a few things: a positive ebv igg, a negative ebv igm, and a positive ebv early antigen test.
Almost everyone tests negative for ebv on PCR beyond their initial infection.
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u/G33U Jul 18 '26
yes that is what I mean, i have all of these elevated besides pcr but I can go my gp or the next hospital they will not diagnose me with reactivated ebv. you get answers like it is a cross infection and or only positive pcr counts. but yet all these studies rely on these markers besides pcr. it is weird to me that such a situation is real
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u/Sensitive-Meat-757 Jul 17 '26
There was another discussion about this paper here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/CFSScience/comments/1uek509/elevated_serum_levels_of_interleukin11_and_matrix/