Alan Light

From MEpedia, a crowd-sourced encyclopedia of ME and CFS science and history
Source: University of Utah Faculty page

Alan R. Light, Ph.D., is a Research Professor of Anesthesiology, Neurobiology and Anatomy at the Interdepartmental Program in Neuroscience at the University of Utah. He studies the neurobiology of pain and fatigue enhancement caused by injury and in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia.[1] Professor Light and his wife. Dr. Kathleen Light, are known for their work on post-exertional gene expression after exercise.

Dr. Light is a member of the Working Group which offers their expertise and resources to the ME/CFS Collaborative Research Center at Stanford University.[2]

International Consensus Criteria[edit | edit source]

Dr. Light is one of the authors of the 2011 case definition, International Consensus Criteria.[3]

Awards[edit | edit source]

  • Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award (a seven-year research grant) from the National Institutes of Health for his research on descending control of pain.[4]
  • 2010 - Won Second Place in Oral Presentations at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Society Anesthesiologists for A novel approach to studying the sensory pathways involved in the perception of fatigue[5]

Education[edit | edit source]

  • B.A. 1972, Hamilton College
  • Ph.D. 1977, SUNY at Upstate Medical Center
  • Postdoctoral Fellow 1977-1979, UNC-Chapel Hill

Talks and interviews[edit | edit source]

Short web seminars Science to patients / Wetenschap voor patienten[edit | edit source]

English speech, with Dutch subtitles

Books[edit | edit source]

  • 2010, Chapter 11: Myalgia and Fatigue—Translation from Mouse Sensory Neurons to Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndromes In: Translational Pain Research – From Mouse to Man[6] (Full Text)

Notable studies related to ME/CFS[edit | edit source]

  • 2017, Neural Consequences of Post-Exertion Malaise in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome[7] (Full Text)
  • 2017, Symptom variability following acute exercise in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: a perspective on measuring post-exertion malaise[8] (Abstract)
  • 2016, Gene expression factor analysis to differentiate pathways linked to fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and depression in a diverse patient sample[9] (Full Text)
  • 2013, Post-Exertion Malaise in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Symptoms and Gene Expression[10] (Full text)
  • 2013, Differing leukocyte gene expression profiles associated with fatigue in patients with prostate cancer versus chronic fatigue syndrome<refname="Light2013Prostate">Light, K.C.; Agarwal, N.; Iacob, E.; White, A.T.; Kinney, A.Y.; Vanhaitsma, T.A.; Aizad, H.; Hughen, R.W.; Bateman, L.; Light, A.R. (2013). "Differing leukocyte gene expression profiles associated with fatigue in patients with prostate cancer versus chronic fatigue syndrome". Psychoneuroendocrinology. 38 (12): 2983–2995. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.08.008. PMC 3848711. PMID 24054763.</ref> (Full Text)
  • 2012, Genetics and Gene Expression Involving Stress and Distress Pathways in Fibromyalgia with and without Comorbid Chronic Fatigue Syndrome[11] (Full text)
  • 2012, Differences in metabolite-detecting, adrenergic, and immune gene expression after moderate exercise in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, patients with multiple sclerosis, and healthy controls[12] (Full text)
  • 2012, Gene expression alterations at baseline and following moderate exercise in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia Syndrome[13] (Full Text)
  • 2011, Evidence for a heritable predisposition to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome[14] (Full Text)
  • 2011, Absence of XMRV retrovirus and other murine leukemia virus-related viruses in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome[15] (Full Text)
  • 2010, A novel approach to studying the sensory pathways involved in the perception of fatigue[5] (Abstract)
  • 2010, Severity of symptom flare after moderate exercise is linked to cytokine activity in chronic fatigue syndrome[16] (Full Text)
  • 2009, Moderate Exercise Increases Expression for Sensory, Adrenergic, and Immune Genes in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients But Not in Normal Subjects[17] (Full Text)

Open Letter to The Lancet[edit | edit source]

Two open letters to the editor of The Lancet journal urged the editor to commission a fully independent review of the PACE trial, which it had published in 2011. In 2016, Dr. Light, along with 41 colleagues in the ME/CFS field, signed the second letter[18]

News and media coverage[edit | edit source]

Online presence[edit | edit source]

Learn more[edit | edit source]

See also[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ http://neuroscience.med.utah.edu/Faculty/Light.html
  2. ↑ "OMF grants $1.2M to Ramp Up Collaborative Research Center at Stanford University". bos.etapestry.com. Retrieved October 24, 2021.
  3. ↑ Carruthers, Bruce M.; van de Sande, Marjorie I.; De Meirleir, Kenny L.; Klimas, Nancy G.; Broderick, Gordon; Mitchell, Terry; Staines, Donald; Powles, A.C. Peter; Speight, Nigel; Vallings, Rosamund; Bateman, Lucinda; Baumgarten-Austrheim, Barbara; Bell, David; Carlo-Stella, Nicoletta; Chia, John; Darragh, Austin; Jo, Daehyun; Lewis, Donald; Light, Alan; Marshall-Gradisnik, Sonya; Mena, Ismael; Mikovits, Judy; Miwa, Kunihisa; Murovska, Modra; Pall, Martin; Stevens, Staci (August 22, 2011). "Myalgic encephalomyelitis: International Consensus Criteria". Journal of Internal Medicine. 270 (4): 327–338. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2796.2011.02428.x. ISSN 0954-6820. PMC 3427890. PMID 21777306.
  4. ↑ "ALAN R LIGHT - Research - Faculty Profile". The University of Utah. Retrieved October 24, 2021.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Pollak, Kelly; Jo, Daehyun; Vanhaitsma, Timothy A; Hughen, Ron W; Light, Alan R (2010). "A novel approach to studying the sensory pathways involved in the perception of fatigue". Journal of Critical Care. 25 (4): e18. doi:10.1016/j.jcrc.2010.08.023.
  6. ↑ Light, A.R.; Vierck, C.J.; Light, K.C. (2010). "Myalgia and Fatigue—Translation from Mouse Sensory Neurons to Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndromes". In Kruger, Lawrence; Light, Alan (eds.). Translational Pain Research – From Mouse to Man. Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press/Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-4398-1209-9.
  7. ↑ Cook, Dane B.; Light, Alan R.; Light, Kathleen C.; Broderick, Gordon; Shields, Morgan R.; Dougherty, Ryan J.; Meyer, Jacob D.; VanRiper, Stephanie; Stegner, Aaron J.; Ellingson, Laura D.; Vernon, Suzanne D. (2017). "Neural Consequences of Post-Exertion Malaise in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. 62: 87-99. doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2017.02.009. PMID 28216087.
  8. ↑ Lindheimer, Jacob B.; Meyer, Jacob D.; Stegner, Aaron J.; Dougherty, Ryan J.; Van Riper, Stephanie M.; Shields, Morgan; Reisner, Amanda; Shukla, Sanjay K.; Light, Alan R.; Yale, Steven; Cook, Dane B. (2017). "Symptom variability following acute exercise in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: a perspective on measuring post-exertion malaise". Fatigue: Biomedicine, Health & Behavior. 5 (2): 69-88. doi:10.1080/21641846.2017.1321166.
  9. ↑ Iacob, E; Light, AR; Donaldson, GW; Okifuji, A; Hughen, RW; White, AT; Light, K (2016). "Gene expression factor analysis to differentiate pathways linked to fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and depression in a diverse patient sample". Arthritis Care and Research. 68 (1): 132-40. doi:10.1002/acr.22639. PMC 4684820. PMID 26097208.
  10. ↑ Meyer, Jacob D; Light, Alan R; Shukla, Sanjay K; Clevidence, Derek; Yale, Steven; Stegner, Aaron J; Cook, Dane C (2013). "Post-Exertion Malaise in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Symptoms and Gene Expression". Fatigue: Biomedicine, Health, & Behavior. 1 (4): 190-209. doi:10.1080/21641846.2013.838444.
  11. ↑ Light, KC; White, AT; Tadler, S; Iacob, E; Light, Alan R (2012). "Genetics and Gene Expression Involving Stress and Distress Pathways in Fibromyalgia with and without Comorbid Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". Pain Research and Treatment: 427869. doi:10.1155/2012/427869. PMC 3200121.
  12. ↑ White, AT; Light, AR; Hughen, RW; Vanhaitsma, TA; Light, KC (2012). "Differences in metabolite-detecting, adrenergic, and immune gene expression after moderate exercise in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, patients with multiple sclerosis, and healthy controls". Psychosomatic Medicine. 74 (1): 46-54. doi:10.1097/PSY.0b013e31824152ed. PMC 3256093.
  13. ↑ Light, Alan R; Bateman, Lucinda; Jo, Daehyun; Hughen, Ronald W; Vanhaitsma, Timothy A; White, AT; Light, Kathleen (2012). "Gene expression alterations at baseline and following moderate exercise in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia Syndrome". Journal of Internal Medicine. 271 (1): 64-81. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2796.2011.02405.x. PMC 3175315.
  14. ↑ Albright, Frederick; Light, Kathleen; Light, Alan; Bateman, Lucinda; Cannon-Albright, Lisa A (2011). "Evidence for a heritable predisposition to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". BMC Neurology. 11: 62. doi:10.1186/1471-2377-11-62. PMC 3128000. PMID 21619629.
  15. ↑ Shin, Clifford H.; Bateman, Lucinda; Schlaberg, Robert; Bunker, Ashley M.; Leonard, Christopher J.; Hughen, Ronald W.; Light, Alan R.; Light, Kathleen C; Singh, Ila R. (July 2011). "Absence of XMRV retrovirus and other murine leukemia virus-related viruses in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome". Journal of Virology. 85 (14): 7195–202. doi:10.1128/JVI.00693-11.
  16. ↑ White, A.T.; Light, A.R.; Hughen, R.W.; Bateman, L.; Martins, T.B.; Hill, H.R.; Light, K.C. (2010). "Severity of symptom flare after moderate exercise is linked to cytokine activity in chronic fatigue syndrome". Psychophysiology. 47 (4): 615–24. doi:10.1111./j.1469-8986.2010.00978.x. PMC 4378647.
  17. ↑ Light, A.R.; White, A.T.; Hughen, R.W.; Light, K.C. (2009). "Moderate Exercise Increases Expression for Sensory, Adrenergic, and Immune Genes in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients But Not in Normal Subjects". The Journal of Pain. 10: 1099–1112. PMC 2757484.
  18. ↑ An open letter to The Lancet, again - Virology blog

myalgia Muscle pain

chronic fatigue (CF) - Persistent and abnormal fatigue is a symptom, not an illness. It may be caused by depression, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome or many other illnesses. The term "chronic fatigue" should never be confused with the disease chronic fatigue syndrome.

myalgic encephalomyelitis (M.E.) - A disease often marked by neurological symptoms, but fatigue is sometimes a symptom as well. Some diagnostic criteria distinguish it from chronic fatigue syndrome, while other diagnostic criteria consider it to be a synonym for chronic fatigue syndrome. A defining characteristic of ME is post-exertional malaise (PEM), or post-exertional neuroimmune exhaustion (PENE), which is a notable exacerbation of symptoms brought on by small exertions. PEM can last for days or weeks. Symptoms can include cognitive impairments, muscle pain (myalgia), trouble remaining upright (orthostatic intolerance), sleep abnormalities, and gastro-intestinal impairments, among others. An estimated 25% of those suffering from ME are housebound or bedbound. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies ME as a neurological disease.

stress Stress can by either physical or psychological, or both. Stress is either 1) a state of emotional or psychological strain or 2) the physical stress (pressure or tension) that a physical object such the human body is placed under, e.g., a stress test is a medical test that monitors the cardiovascular system during strenuous exercise.

A chemical compound produced by, or involved in, metabolism. The term is often used to refer to the degradation products of drugs in the body.

metabolite A chemical compound produced by, or involved in, metabolism. The term is often used to refer to the degradation products of drugs in the body.

flare-up A symptoms flare in ME/CFS is a temporary increase in symptoms, alternatively known as experiencing post-exertional malaise. May be referred to as a "crash" or "collapse".

cytokine any class of immunoregulatory proteins secreted by cells, especially immune cells. Cytokines are small proteins important in cell signaling that modulate the immune system. (Learn more: me-pedia.org)

somatic symptom disorder A psychiatric term to describe an alleged condition whereby a person's thoughts somehow cause physical symptoms. The actual existence of such a condition is highly controversial, due to a lack of scientific evidence. It is related to other psychiatric terms, such as "psychosomatic", "neurasthenia", and "hysteria". Older terms include "somatization", "somatoform disorder", and "conversion disorder". Such terms refer to a scientifically-unsupported theory that claims that a wide range of physical symptoms can be created by the human mind, a theory which has been criticized as "mind over matter" parapsychology, a pseudoscience.

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