Papers of the Week

Symptom-based disorders are conditions that are characterised mostly by somatic symptoms rather than objectively identifiable signs. They are very common, including pain and fatigue disorders, functional gastrointestinal and respiratory disorders, and others, and they cause far greater disability than diseases where signs are prominent. Such conditions may sometimes be triggered by infection, as in Post Covid Syndrome, or physical or psychological trauma. By employing passive immunoglobulin transfer experimental approaches, recent research in a number of 'unexplained' chronic pain conditions has demonstrated that pathogenic IgG autoantibodies are ubiquitous in patients with severe phenotypes, that can explain several of these conditions' core symptoms. The promise from placing positive resources into exploring the role of 'invisible', functional, non-inflammatory autoantibodies in symptom-based disorders across additional areas of Medicine includes patient empowerment and the development of new diagnostic tests and therapies.