Olav Mella

Olav Mella is an Adjunct Professor in the ME/CFS research group at the Department of Oncology and Medical Physics at the University of Bergen, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway. He works with Dr. Øystein Fluge in the Norwegian Rituximab and cyclophosphamide trials for the depletion of B cell lymphocytes in ME/CFS patients.

Rituximab work in ME/CFS
Øystein Fluge's and Olav Mella's discovery was found by accident, in that 3 ME/CFS patients who had B cell lymphoma improved remarkably following treatment with Rituximab. Not only had their lymphomas improved, but all symptoms of their ME/CFS diminished with the treatment. The positive responses were delayed for up to 6-12 weeks, despite their B cells being eliminated by the drug in 2 weeks. Since that accidental discovery, a larger study has been undertaken. Initial reports are promising in that there is a positive response in 67% of the patients receiving Rituximab vs a 13% improvement in the placebo group. After the effects wore off, there was a decline in the numbers who responded to the second and subsequent infusions. The clinical trial, named RituxME, is now a multicenter, phase III study. It is randomized, double-blind and placebo controlled, with 152 participants, of which half will receive treatments with rituximab and the other half will be treated with placebo (saline). Results will be published in 2018.

The discovery of ME/CFS patients responding positively to an autoimmunity drug has radically changed how many have viewed ME/CFS, to the point that Bjørn Guldvog, the Deputy Director General of Norwegian Directorate of Health, has apologized for the way in which ME patients in Norway have been treated: "I think that we have not cared for people with ME to a great enough extent. I think it is correct to say that we have not established proper health care services for these people, and I regret that." The European ME Alliance believes that such a public apology from a governmental health agency has never occurred before.

In 2015, a second clinical trial for ME/CFS by the same group headed by Fluge and Mella, was started using the chemotherapy drug, cyclophosphamide. Called CycloME part A​, this study will involve 40 patients with moderate and severe ME/CFS and will be ongoing until January 2017. If the results indicate a clinically relevant response, i.e., an improvement in symptoms, in a minimum of 40% of the patients, the trial will move into CycloME part B and may be extended to include patients with very severe ME.

Talks and Interviews

 * 2015, The Naked Scientists Podcast -"Is ME an autoimmune disease?"
 * 2015, 10th Invest in ME International ME Conference 2015 - no speech title given
 * 2014, Olav Mella speaks about the Rituximab study and ME/CFS future
 * 2013, 8th Invest in ME International ME Conference 2012 - B-cell Depletion Therapy Using Rituximab in ME/CFS - Part I
 * 2012, 7th Invest in ME International ME Conference 2012 - B-cell Depletion Therapy Using Rituximab in ME/CFS - Part I
 * 2011, 6th Invest in ME International ME Conference 2011 - B-cell Depletion Therapy Using Rituximab in ME/CFS - Part I

Notable ME/CFS Studies

 * 2016, Metabolic profiling indicates impaired pyruvate dehydrogenase function in myalgic encephalopathy/chronic fatigue syndrome "Abstract: Myalgic encephalopathy/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a debilitating disease of unknown etiology, with hallmark symptoms including postexertional malaise and poor recovery. Metabolic dysfunction is a plausible contributing factor. We hypothesized that changes in serum amino acids may disclose specific defects in energy metabolism in ME/CFS. Analysis in 200 ME/CFS patients and 102 healthy individuals showed a specific reduction of amino acids that fuel oxidative metabolism via the TCA cycle, mainly in female ME/CFS patients. Serum 3-methylhistidine, a marker of endogenous protein catabolism, was significantly increased in male patients. The amino acid pattern suggested functional impairment of pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH), supported by increased mRNA expression of the inhibitory PDH kinases 1, 2, and 4; sirtuin 4; and PPARδ in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from both sexes. Myoblasts grown in presence of serum from patients with severe ME/CFS showed metabolic adaptations, including increased mitochondrial respiration and excessive lactate secretion. The amino acid changes could not be explained by symptom severity, disease duration, age, BMI, or physical activity level among patients. These findings are in agreement with the clinical disease presentation of ME/CFS, with inadequate ATP generation by oxidative phosphorylation and excessive lactate generation upon exertion.
 * 2016, Serum BAFF and APRIL Levels, T-Lymphocyte Subsets, and Immunoglobulins after B-Cell Depletion Using the Monoclonal Anti-CD20 Antibody Rituximab in Myalgic Encephalopathy/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
 * 2016, Antibodies to β adrenergic and muscarinic cholinergic receptors in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
 * 2015, B-lymphocyte depletion in myalgic encephalopathy/chronic fatigue syndrome. An open-label phase II study with rituximab maintenance treatment. The study conculsion: "In a subgroup of ME/CFS patients, prolonged B-cell depletion with rituximab maintenance infusions was associated with sustained clinical responses. The observed patterns of delayed responses and relapse after B-cell depletion and regeneration, a three times higher disease prevalence in women than in men, and a previously demonstrated increase in B-cell lymphoma risk for elderly ME/CFS patients, suggest that ME/CFS may be a variant of an autoimmune disease."
 * 2011, Benefit from B-lymphocyte depletion using the anti-CD20 antibody rituximab in chronic fatigue syndrome. A double-blind and placebo-controlled study. FULL TEXT "Abstract - 'Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a disease of unknown aetiology. Major CFS symptom relief during cancer chemotherapy in a patient with synchronous CFS and lymphoma spurred a pilot study of B-lymphocyte depletion using the anti-CD20 antibody Rituximab, which demonstrated significant clinical response in three CFS patients. Methods and Findings: In this double-blind, placebo-controlled phase II study (NCT00848692), 30 CFS patients were randomised to either Rituximab 500 mg/m2 or saline, given twice two weeks apart, with follow-up for 12 months. Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) was not detected in any of the patients. The responses generally affected all CFS symptoms. Major or moderate overall response, defined as lasting improvements in self-reported Fatigue score during follow-up, was seen in 10 out of 15 patients (67%) in the Rituximab group and in two out of 15 patients (13%) in the Placebo group (p = 0.003). Mean response duration within the follow-up period for the 10 responders to Rituximab was 25 weeks (range 8–44). Four Rituximab patients had clinical response durations past the study period. General linear models for repeated measures of Fatigue scores during follow-up showed a significant interaction between time and intervention group (p = 0.018 for self-reported, and p = 0.024 for physician-assessed), with differences between the Rituximab and Placebo groups between 6–10 months after intervention. The primary end-point, defined as effect on self-reported Fatigue score 3 months after intervention, was negative. There were no serious adverse events. Two patients in the Rituximab group with pre-existing psoriasis experienced moderate psoriasis worsening. Conclusion: The delayed responses starting from 2–7 months after Rituximab treatment, in spite of rapid B-cell depletion, suggests that CFS is an autoimmune disease and may be consistent with the gradual elimination of autoantibodies preceding clinical responses. The present findings will impact future research efforts in CFS.'"

Learn more

 * 2015 Fluge & Mella’s pre-trial study highlights life-changing potential of rituximab