Mady Hornig

Professor Mady Hornig is a physician-scientist and Director of Translational Research at the Center for Infection & Immunity at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health where she is also Associate Professor of Epidemiology.

Notable studies

 * 2016, Cytokine network analysis of cerebrospinal fluid in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome."Abstract: 'Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome is an unexplained debilitating disorder that is frequently associated with cognitive and motor dysfunction. We analyzed cerebrospinal fluid from 32 cases, 40 subjects with multiple sclerosis and 19 normal subjects frequency-matched for age and sex using a 51-plex cytokine assay. Group-specific differences were found for the majority of analytes with an increase in cases of CCL11 (eotaxin), a chemokine involved in eosinophil recruitment. Network analysis revealed an inverse relationship between interleukin 1 receptor antagonist and colony-stimulating factor 1, colony-stimulating factor 2 and interleukin 17F, without effects on interleukin 1α or interleukin 1β, suggesting a disturbance in interleukin 1 signaling. Our results indicate a markedly disturbed immune signature in the cerebrospinal fluid of cases that is consistent with immune activation in the central nervous system, and a shift toward an allergic or T helper type-2 pattern associated with autoimmunity.'"
 * 2015, Distinct plasma immune signatures in ME/CFS are present early in the course of illness FULL TEXT"'Abstract: Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is an unexplained incapacitating illness that may affect up to 4 million people in the United States alone. There are no validated laboratory tests for diagnosis or management despite global efforts to find biomarkers of disease. We considered the possibility that inability to identify such biomarkers reflected variations in diagnostic criteria and laboratory methods as well as the timing of sample collection during the course of the illness. Accordingly, we leveraged two large, multicenter cohort studies of ME/CFS to assess the relationship of immune signatures with diagnosis, illness duration, and other clinical variables. Controls were frequency-matched on key variables known to affect immune status, including season of sampling and geographic site, in addition to age and sex. We report here distinct alterations in plasma immune signatures early in the course of ME/CFS (n = 52) relative to healthy controls (n = 348) that are not present in subjects with longer duration of illness (n = 246). Analyses based on disease duration revealed that early ME/CFS cases had a prominent activation of both pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines as well as dissociation of intercytokine regulatory networks. We found a stronger correlation of cytokine alterations with illness duration than with measures of illness severity, suggesting that the immunopathology of ME/CFS is not static. These findings have critical implications for discovery of interventional strategies and early diagnosis of ME/CFS.'"
 * 2015, Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is associated with pandemic influenza infection, but not with an adjuvanted pandemic influenza vaccine
 * 2015, Findings from a clinical and laboratory database developed for discovery of pathogenic mechanisms in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. Abstract
 * 2012, A multicenter blinded analysis indicates no association between chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis and either xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus or polytropic murine leukemia virus (see XMRV)

Talks & interviews

 * 2016, 12th International [[IACFSME] Biennial Clinical and Research Conference, Emerging Science and Clinical Care, Session Chair for Session 1: The Latest Research in Immunology and the Microbiome]
 * 2016, Speaker at the 11th Invest in ME International ME Conference - DVD available
 * 2015, Speaker at the 10th Invest in ME International ME Conference - DVD available
 * 2015, [[ME/CFS Alert] Episode 73: Dr. Mady Hornig (Part 1)]
 * 2015, [[ME/CFS Alert] Episode 74: Dr. Mady Hornig (Part 2)]
 * 2015, The Invisible Ones - Conference on ME/CFS - Mady Hornig, Sweden, 19 October 2015.
 * transcript of the above talk
 * 2015, Scientists Discover Robust Evidence That Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Is a Biological Illness, 27 February 2015.
 * 2014, Speaker at the 9th Invest in ME International ME Conference - DVD available

Online presence

 * Columbia University - Mady Hornig, MD
 * PubMed - Mady Hornig

Learn more

 * Wikipedia - Mady Hornig
 * 2016, The Other MEGA Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Project: Dr. Hornig Talks
 * 2016, Is chronic fatigue syndrome finally being taken seriously?
 * 2015, Distinct stages to chronic fatigue syndrome identified
 * 2015, Ian Lipkin and Mady Hornig take the #ChiliMEChallenge (see Chilli ME Challenge)