By Amy Norton
NEW YORK, Feb 03 (Reuters Health) -- Researchers have discovered a
biological common denominator to the mysterious array of symptoms known as Gulf
War syndrome -- linking the illness not to toxic exposures in the Persian Gulf,
but possibly to the vaccines soldiers received to protect them from viruses and
chemical and biological warfare.
Researchers led by Dr. Robert F. Garry, of the Tulane Medical School in
New Orleans, Louisiana, report their findings in the February issue of the
journal Experimental and Molecular Pathology.
In what the team says could serve as a biological marker for Gulf War
syndrome, nearly all subjects with the illness in a Tulane University study
tested positive for antibodies to squalene, a component of cholesterol that
naturally circulates in the body.
Because squalene also stimulates the immune system, it has been used in
several experimental vaccines -- but squalene was not used in the vaccines Gulf
War personnel received, Garry told Reuters Health. However, through some other
mechanism, the vaccines may have triggered the immune system to react to the
body's natural squalene supply, which would explain the antibodies found in
subjects' blood.
"That's the most popular theory right now," Garry noted.
In an article published last year in The Lancet, researchers who
investigated the proposed causes of Gulf War syndrome -- from biological warfare
to exposure to oil fires -- concluded that the single most likely cause was the
flurry of vaccines given to troops before deployment. The Tulane study adds to
this epidemiological evidence a biological marker that implicates the vaccines,
Garry said.
"Many have said that (Gulf War syndrome) is all in their heads," he noted.
"Now we've got something you can actually measure."
Garry and his colleagues studied 56 Gulf War-era veterans and military
personnel who were on active service during 1990-1991: 38 had been deployed to
the Persian Gulf and had Gulf War syndrome symptoms; 12 had been deployed but
were healthy; and 6 were ill, but had not been deployed.
The researchers found that among the ill subjects who had been deployed,
95% had squalene antibodies. Further, all of the 6 who were ill but had not been
sent to the Gulf had antibodies; while these subjects had not served in the war,
they had received all of the immunizations given to Gulf War troops. This,
according to Garry and his colleagues, suggests that something other than
exposures in the Persian Gulf is behind the syndrome's array of symptoms, which
include chronic fatigue, joint and muscle pain, swelling of the lymph nodes,
memory loss, and autoimmune thyroid disease.
To see whether squalene antibodies might be a marker for some autoimmune
diseases -- those in which the body attacks its own healthy tissue -- Garry's
team also looked for antibodies in small groups of patients with lupus or
chronic fatigue syndrome. Only a small percentage of these subjects tested
positive for the antibodies.
Adverse reactions to vaccines are rare, but, according to the researchers,
Gulf War veterans may present a special case.
"They received an intense vaccine regimen," Garry said. "Some got dozens
of shots within days or hours. That's an assault on the immune system, even if
the individual vaccines are safe."
It is unknown whether the squalene antibodies might cause Gulf War
syndrome symptoms, or simply be a marker for them. Since squalene exists in many
types of body cells, particularly in nerve and muscle cells, Garry noted, it is
possible the antibodies directly cause the illness.
