Interview with Professor Chris Ponting about the DecodeME results.

People with ME/CFS differ genetically from the general population, according to the long-awaited results of the largest biological study of the disease to date. By comparing DNA samples from thousands of people ME/CFS diagnoses to samples from those who were not diagnosed, the investigators identified eight “genetic signals" relating to post-infection immune function and to the nervous system. The results of the study, called DecodeME, were released by the University of Edinburgh yesterday in a pre-print version that has not yet been peer-reviewed. DecodeME launched a few years ago with a major outreach effort to encourage the submission of saliva samples. Large segments of the ME/CFS patient and advocacy communities strongly backed the project and have been eagerly anticipating the release of the findings. The pre-print results received widespread coverage in the UK. Articles appeared in The Guardian, Financial Times, on the BBC, and elsewhere. I spoke recently with Professor Chris Ponting, a geneticist at the University of Edinburgh and the lead investigator of the study.