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Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME / CFS) Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS), Fibromyalgia Leading Research. Delivering Hope.Open Medicine Foundation® Canada
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ME/CFS Adaptive Therapeutic Solution Platform (MEDUSA) – Phase 1

Study Aim

The purpose of phase 1 of this study is to identify promising treatments for specific subgroups of people with ME/CFS, which will be evaluated in later phases.

Investigators

  • Alain Moreau, PhD

Updates and Potential

  • Elevated SMPDL3B was found to be correlated with symptom severity and is associated with immune dysregulation.
  • The team is exploring novel therapeutic approaches based on these preliminary findings.
  • A manuscript is in preparation.
STUDY HYPOTHESIS AND DESCRIPTION

Building on our previous studies, MEDUSA will allow us to explore therapeutic targets and promising treatments for ME/CFS, thereby offering hope for patients who have long been without meaningful options.

This first phase represents foundational investigations focusing on systematically investigating promising therapeutic targets and assessing FDA-approved drugs for repurposing as targeted interventions. This phase employs state-of-the-art molecular profiling, including transcriptomics, proteomics, and functional assays in model cell lines and patient-derived cells, to identify key pathways and molecules implicated in disease mechanisms. These findings will form the critical foundation for subsequent phases.

OBJECTIVES

a scientist is testing various pills in order to improve their quality an effectiveness in the laboratory, a chemist is testing the chemistry of various pill capsules in a medicine laboratory

  • Deep phenotyping of ME/CFS patients through precision medicine. This step is essential (a) to predict ME/CFS patients who could benefit from a specific treatment, and (b) to finalize the validation of new monitoring clinical and molecular tools necessary to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of proposed treatments.
  • Exploration of past clinical trials. Exploring biological samples from previous clinical trials presents a unique opportunity to extract additional value from these original clinical studies and to deepen our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of disease or treatment response. By reanalyzing these samples with advanced methodologies or newly developed biomarkers, we can potentially uncover novel insights that were not part of the initial analysis.
  • In vitro validation of FDA-approved drugs for repurposing as targeted therapeutics in ME/CFS. The repurposing of FDA-approved drugs offers a promising strategy to accelerate the identification of effective therapeutic interventions for ME/CFS. This approach aligns with the principles of precision medicine, enabling us to address the clinical heterogeneity of ME/CFS and tailor interventions to specific patient subgroups.

Consent management

Consent Preferences

Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) Form 

Microvesicles and viral sequencing
Microvesicles are a type of extracellular vesicle that is released from the cell membrane. Vesicles are small, fluid-filled sacs or vacuoles within the body. Sequencing is a technique used to determine the exact sequence of bases (A, C, G, and T) in a DNA (or viral) molecule.
NMR Metabolomics
NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) is an instrument/tool used to perform metabolic studies, metabolic profiling, and metabolomics in biofluids and tissues for more than 40 years using magnetic fields. There is a very close connection between metabolic measurements and NMR. This connection has flourished because of NMR’s many unique strengths for characterizing complex mixtures’ chemical composition.
Proteomics
The large-scale study of proteins, which are large, complex molecules that are required for structure, function, and regulation of the human body's tissues and organs.
Autoantibodies
Antibodies that react with self-molecules and that occur in healthy individuals and are referred to as natural antibodies or autoantibodies.
Extracellular DNA for viral reactivation and Mitochondrial DNA
exDNA (extracellular DNA), exDNA is often secreted actively and is used to perform several tasks, thereby offering an attractive target or tool for biotechnological, medical, environmental, and general microbiological applications. Viruses are intracellular parasites that rely to a significant extent on the host cell for replication. Viral reactivation occurs when an active replication of the viral genome results in a lytic (degradation of the cell) infection characterized by the release of new progeny (descendant) virus particles.
Immune cell profiling
The immune system has many important regulatory roles in disease development and progression. Given the emergence of effective immune therapies, reliable predictors of response are needed. Immune cell profiling determines response by evaluating immune cell populations from treated and untreated samples. For our purposes, we will evaluate the white blood cell response to the viral infection using a process called “Cytof.”
Leukocyte Genomics
A leukocyte is a colorless cell circulating in the blood and body fluids and is involved in counteracting foreign substances and disease. A genome is all genetic material of an organism. Genomics is a biology field focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. Therefore, leukocyte genomics is the study of all genetic material of leukocytes.
Metabolomics
Metabolomics is a way to study metabolism – that is, through measuring amounts of the metabolites (small molecules) produced by our bodies as we convert food into energy and other molecules that our cells need to survive. Metabolomics technology is ‘large-scale,’ meaning that several thousand metabolites can be measured from a single sample of e.g., blood or urine.
Micro RNA
Cells use Micro RNA to control whether a particular gene is making too much, too little or the normal amount of its protein at a particular time.