Chronic immune activation in the eosinophiliamyalgia syndrome

✍ Scribed by Kevin L. McKinley; Yadollah Harati; Larry W. Schneider

• Book ID: 102535643
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 441 KB
• Volume: 16
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0148-639X
• DOI: 10.1002/mus.880160910

✦ Synopsis

Eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome (EMS) is a multisystem illness of uncertain pathogenesis that occurred in an epidemic related to the ingestion of contaminated L-tryptophan. To investigate the role of immune dysfunction in EMS we prospectively measured a serologic index of T-cell activation, the soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-~R), in 7 patients followed into the late stages of the illness. As a group, EMS patients had significantly elevated slL-2R levels throughout the study. Five patients suffered chronic symptoms of myalgia, arthralgia, muscle cramps, fatigue, or subjective memory impairment and all had persistently elevated slL-2R levels. Two patients had near-resolution of EMS and normal slL-2R levels. We conclude that chronic symptoms are common in EMS and are associated with persistent T-cell activation as measured by serum slL-2R levels. These findings suggest that immunosuppressive treatment may be beneficial in EMS.