Study type: Human research · Status: Verified against declared source

A possible role for mitochondrial-derived chemical sequences humanin and MOTS-c in patients with Q fever fatigue syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Journal of translational medicine · 2019

Study scale: Analysis was performed using DESeq2, using as input the MMSEQ counts (Unique hits).

Product or molecular entity relationships

Humanin: Exact entity relationship. Legacy citation custody associates this source with the catalog record; no product-relevance conclusion is implied.
MOTS-c: Exact entity relationship. Legacy citation custody associates this source with the catalog record; no product-relevance conclusion is implied.

Plain-language verified summary

Question

Q fever fatigue syndrome (QFS) is a well-documented state of prolonged fatigue following around 20% of acute Q fever infections.

Methods

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12967-019-1906-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Scale or participants

Analysis was performed using DESeq2, using as input the MMSEQ counts (Unique hits).

Key findings

Mitochondrial-derived peptide (MDP)-coding genes MT-RNR2 (humanin) and MT-RNR1 (MOTS-c) were differentially expressed when comparing QFS (− 4.8 log2-fold-change P = 2.19 × 10−9 and − 4.9 log2-fold-change P = 4.69 × 10−8), CFS (− 5.2 log2-fold-change, P = 3.49 × 10−11 − 4.4 log2-fold-change, P = 2.71 × 10−9), and Q fever seropositive control (− 3.7 log2-fold-change P = 1.78 × 10−6 and − 3.2 log2-fold-change P = 1.12 × 10−5) groups with healthy controls, resulting in a decreased median production of humanin in QFS patients (371 pg/mL; Interquartile range, IQR, 325–384), CFS patients (364 pg/mL; IQR 316–387), and asymptomatic Q fever seropositive controls (354 pg/mL; 292–393).

Limitations and uncertainty

Complaints such as fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, headache, night sweating and recurrent upper respiratory tract infections suggest an inflammatory component in QFS.

Verified against declared source. Verification is limited to the declared source and review scope. It does not mean independent replication or establish efficacy, safety, or suitability.