Michael Houghton

Michael Houghton, PhD, is a Professor at the Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He was the first to successfully identify and clone the Hepatitis C virus. His professional interests are the Hepatitis C virus, the Hepatitis B virus, and exploring if other chronic illnesses are caused or exacerbated by an acute or persistent viral infection.

Dr. Houghton and his virology team are working on a biomarker for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) using diagnostic cytokine patterns (specifically circulating interleukin (IL)-16, IL-7, and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A (VEGF-A). The team is also investigating if a novel pathogen is associated with a cluster of CFS patients.

Awards

 * Canada Excellence Research Chair in Virology at the University of Alberta
 * 2000, Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee
Dr. Houghton served as a voting member of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee from 05/10/10 to 05/10/14.

Notable studies

 * 2016, Reductions in circulating levels of IL-16, IL-7 and VEGF-A in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome "ABSTRACT: 'Recently, differences in the levels of various chemokines and cytokines were reported in patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) as compared with controls. Moreover, the analyte profile differed between chronic ME/CFS patients of long duration versus patients with disease of less than 3years. In the current study, we measured the plasma levels of 34 cytokines, chemokines and growth factors in 100 chronic ME/CFS patients of long duration and in 79 gender and age-matched controls. We observed highly significant reductions in the concentration of circulating interleukin (IL)-16, IL-7, and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A (VEGF-A) in ME/CFS patients...In combination with previous data, our work suggests that the clustered reduction of IL-7, IL-16 and VEGF-A may have physiological relevance to ME/CFS disease. This profile is ME/CFS-specific since measurement of the same analytes present in chronic infectious and autoimmune liver diseases, where persistent fatigue is also a major symptom, failed to demonstrate the same changes..."
 * 2012, Minimum data elements for research reports on CFS. Full text "Abstract: 'Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a debilitating condition that has received increasing attention from researchers in the past decade. However, it has become difficult to compare data collected in different laboratories due to the variability in basic information regarding descriptions of sampling methods, patient characteristics, and clinical assessments. The issue of variability in CFS research was recently highlighted at the NIH's 2011 State of the Knowledge of CFS meeting prompting researchers to consider the critical information that should be included in CFS research reports. To address this problem, we present our consensus on the minimum data elements that should be included in all CFS research reports, along with additional elements that are currently being evaluated in specific research studies that show promise as important patient descriptors for subgrouping of CFS. These recommendations are intended to improve the consistency of reported methods and the interpretability of reported results. Adherence to minimum standards and increased reporting consistency will allow for better comparisons among published CFS articles, provide guidance for future research and foster the generation of knowledge that can directly benefit the patient.'"
 * 2011, No Evidence for XMRV Nucleic Acids, Infectious Virus or Anti-XMRV Antibodies in Canadian Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - (FULL TEXT)"Abstract: 'The gammaretroviruses xenotropic murine leukemia virus (MLV)-related virus (XMRV) and MLV have been reported to be more prevalent in plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) patients than in healthy controls. Here, we report the complex analysis of whole blood and plasma samples from 58 CFS patients and 57 controls from Canada for the presence of XMRV/MLV nucleic acids, infectious virus, and XMRV/MLV-specific antibodies. Multiple techniques were employed, including nested and qRT-PCR, cell culture, and immunoblotting. We found no evidence of XMRV or MLV in humans and conclude that CFS is not associated with these gammaretroviruses.'"

Learn more

 * Faculty Bio page
 * Canada Excellence Research Chairs