Advancing the Role of Neuroimmunity and Genetic Susceptibility in Gulf War Illness

Details

• Journal Article:
  EBioMedicine
• Personal Author:
  O'Callaghan, James P. ; Michalovicz, Lindsay T. ; Miller, Julie V. ; Kelly, Kimberly A.
• Description:
  Commentary: Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a chronic multi-symptom illness that has affected veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War for over two decades. Recently, research into GWI has greatly expanded, including investigations into potential initiating stimuli and conditions, current pathobiology, and promising treatments for this population of ill veterans. As the field of GWI research grows, it is important for researchers to further characterize and expand upon prior findings in order to bring the field closer to a comprehensive understanding of GWI and to develop therapies that treat the illness itself, not just its symptoms. While the cause(s) of GWI remain largely unknown, most research supports a role for chemical exposures in theater (White et al., 2015) that initiate a protracted, largely neuroimmune-based disorder. Furthermore, the observation that a subset of veterans developed GWI, while nearly all soldiers were likely exposed to some combination of toxicants in theater, strongly supports the hypothesis that veterans with GWI may harbor some specific genetic-susceptibility. In the most recent publication from the Georgopoulos group, James et al. (2017) expand upon several of their previous studies verifying the protective role of HLA alleles related to brain function (Georgopoulos et al., 2015; James et al., 2016) in the observed subcortical brain atrophy associated with GWI (Christova et al., 2017). Here, James et al.'s (2017) evaluation of subcortical brain volumes in Gulf War veterans supported the suspected protective effect of the HLA class II allele DRB1*13:02 by finding a significantly higher subcortical volume in carriers of this allele. A hypothesis is presented that GWI is the result of persistent antigenicity resulting from the presentation of "novel" brain antigens following toxicant exposure... While the "persistent antigen" model introduced by James et al. is attractive in that it provides a basis for the persistent symptoms of GWI, no pathogen has yet to be identified or implicated in this long-term illness. Of course, a latent pathogen may be the source, one that periodically emerges with conditions that ill veterans have been exposed to over the decades ensuing since the war. Physiological stressors and immune challenges (biologicals, inflammagens, chemical sensitizers) are potential candidates, but finding the culprits will remain a challenge that must be surmounted if we are to end the years of suffering caused by events that took place long ago in the Gulf War theater. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Antigens Genetics Gulf War Illness Hazardous Substances Immune System Nervous System Nervous System Diseases Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Pathology Safety

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• Keywords:
  Military personnel; Chemical warfare agents; Pathology; Antigens; Medical research; Neurological disorders; Neurological reactions; Immune reaction; Immune system; Toxins; Soldiers; Genetic factors; Genetic predisposition; Brain function; Genes; Analytical models
• Source:
  EBioMedicine 2017 Dec; 26:11-12
• ISSN:
  2352-3964
• Pubmed ID:
  29239837
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC5832621
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  2 pdf pages
• Volume:
  26
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20050797
• Contact Point Address:
  James P. O'Callaghan, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Health Effects Laboratory Division, Morgantown, WV, United States
• Email:
  jdo5@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2018
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:42d717bf28b5ae7ad36019c6439824cecacfdbb5a5f9db1b289cac3e4ba838e99e9a33e35dd80870b131d8ef67543c00907c173a126eb165d34be486ddc6a1bb
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/53353/cdc_53353_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 147.58 KB ]