Canberra Fibromyalgia and CFS pages
HOME > Library > RNaseL test | RNaseL research update 1999

FAST RED Test

The test for low molecular weight RNaseL enzyme

April 2002

Contents:
The new test || Would this test identify all people with CFS ? ||
Further Reading

The new test

A new screening (diagnostic) test for CFS has has been developed in Belgium by a team of scientists led by Kenny De Meirleir and Patrick Englebienne of the Free University of Brussels in Belgium and a team from RED Laboratories.

The blood test is based on the discovery by Dr. Robert Suhadolnik and his research team at Temple University of Medicine in the USA that a significant majority of CFS sufferers have abnormal "low molecular weight" RnaseL.

RNaseL is an antiviral pathway enzyme that is produced by the body to attack viruses. If it is of low molecular weight this is because is has been damaged as a result of various events such as mycoplasma infection. The result is deregulation of the antiviral pathway. Low molecular weight RnaseL may also reduce thyroid activity, increasing susceptibility to infections.

There is a great deal of research being done on RNaseL in Belgium and elsewhere.  Some of this research was reported at the Sydney Conference in December 2001.

In the meantime it is proposed that low molecular weight RnaseL is a marker for CFS.

R.E.D. Laboratories have been working on developing a quick and easy test to find it in the blood as a way of helping to diagnose CFS. (*R.E.D stands for RNaseL Enzyme Dysfunction).

The test is called the Fragmented Actin Serum Test (FASTest™). It was first described in an article published in the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in 2001.

The work on RNaseL is among the major strands of CFS research that has been totally ignored by the authors of the RACP Guidelines, despite the fact that it has been discussed at every major CFS conference in the last few years, including those put on in Sydney by the Alison Hunter Memorial Foundation. The Guidelines recommend a minimum of testing and only for the purposes of ruling out other disorders.

Would this test identify all people with CFS ?

Not necessarily. Many experts believe the label Chronic Fatigue Syndrome could cover a range of illnesses with similar symptoms.

Sudaholnik's research suggests that the majority of people who fit the standard criteria for CFS  (as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA) have the low molecular weight enzyme. But some - the numbers varied but it could be between 10 and 30% - don't.

The test reveals whether a person has what the Belgian team refer to as "RNaseL Enzyme Dysfunction". But this may be just one "subset" of the syndrome.

RED Labs state: "The results of this test should be used in addition to all other relevant clinical data before making a diagnosis and/or a recommendation for treatment."

It is interesting to note that in Sudaholnik's research, while the majority of the CFS patients were positive for the low weight RNaseL, only a tiny fraction of the two control groups in the study - Fibromalgia patients and people with depression - had the enzyme. To my knowledge this is the first scientifically identifiable difference between CFS and FM. That in itself is interesting, as it has been difficult to distinguish between these groups before because of their overlapping symptoms.  - Moira Smith

Contents

Further reading:

Kenny De Meirleir and Patrick Englebienne Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Biological Approach CRC Press, 2002. ISBN: 0849310466

For more information on this research see these links.

Contents

Based on an item published in Chameleon, the journal of the ME/CFS Society of the Australian Capital Territory, Winter 2002

Top of page ||  Australian Information || Library