Generating Actions, Building Systems

The Complex Chronic Disease Program (CCDP) at the BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre, which has been extensively supported by the Foundation over the last five years, includes a clinic and a clinical research program of Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and/or Chronic Lyme-Like Syndrome.

The newest project that we are pleased to fund, over the next five years, is the CCDP Data Registry. Led by investigator Dr Wee-Shian Chan, this multi-year project aims to characterize the CCDP patient population to better serve the population and have better understanding of these debilitating conditions. This registry will be accessible by researchers over an extended period of time that will hopefully lead to improved assessments and therapeutic interventions for the tens of thousands of individuals in BC with symptoms or a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and/or Chronic Lyme-Like Syndrome. It is with innovative data collection and clinical research programs that conditions such as these will be better understood, and patients will have access to better outcomes.

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Dr. Naomi Dove and her team have been awarded funds for: “A pilot study to investigate models for sexual/mental health service integration in the context of population health inequities”.

Dr. Eleni Galanis and her research team have been awarded funding for: “Beyond diarrhea, to disability and death: the hidden consequences of foodborne infections”.

Dr. Amee Manges an her team have been granted funds for: “AntiRetroviral Research fOr Watoto (ARROW): Substudy on the impact of cotrimoxazole on the gut flora of HIV-infected children and adolescents”.

Dr. David Patrick has been awarded funds for: “The BC Generations Project Cohort as a Platform for Discovery in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): A Pilot Study”.

Dr. Mark Tyndall and Dr. Svetlana Ritovski-Slijepcevic has been awarded funding for: “Integrating research and policy to improve health outcomes for LGBTQ2S youth”.

BCCDC Faculty interested in applying for future funding, be sure to watch your email inboxes in February; the next round of applications will be reviewed in April 2018. To see some of our past research successes, search the blog for entries tagged with #OAP.

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Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), a debilitating syndrome characterized by fatigue, impaired sleep, cognitive issues, pain and other symptoms, remains poorly understood. Some researchers think that infections trigger the syndrome; however an infectious agent has yet to be identified. Researchers also speculate that CFS could be due to an unusual immune response. Using blood samples collected from adult CFS patients, the study team analyzed gene expression levels, immune cell receptors, and potential viral infections and found that while there was no specific viral infections found, there may be some differences in CFS patients’ long-term immune responses. The team is currently following up this story using a new immunosignature assay developed by collaborators in the US.

The article is titled, “RNA-Seq Analysis of Gene Expression, Viral Pathogen, and B-Cell/T-Cell Receptor Signatures in Complex Chronic Disease”. The full article can be read via open access at this link.

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