Allan, Claire Y, Katsaros, Tina, Missailidis, Daniel et al. · Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2025 · DOI
This study describes laboratory methods to test how well the mitochondria (the energy factories in our cells) are working in people with ME/CFS. Researchers took two types of cells from ME/CFS patients—fibroblasts (skin cells) and immune cells from the blood—and used special dyes and measurements to check if these cells have problems with energy production, cellular damage, or stress responses. These techniques could help scientists understand whether mitochondrial problems contribute to ME/CFS symptoms.
Many ME/CFS patients experience profound fatigue that may be linked to impaired energy production at the cellular level. By providing standardized methods to measure mitochondrial function in patient-derived cells, this study enables researchers worldwide to investigate whether and how mitochondria are dysfunctional in ME/CFS, potentially leading to new diagnostic tests or treatments targeting energy metabolism.
This is a methods paper describing laboratory techniques rather than a clinical study reporting new findings about ME/CFS patients. It does not prove that mitochondrial dysfunction causes ME/CFS symptoms, nor does it establish how common or severe mitochondrial abnormalities are in the ME/CFS population. The relationship between cellular mitochondrial changes and patients' clinical symptoms remains to be determined.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Allan, Claire Y, Katsaros, Tina, Missailidis, Daniel, Fisher, Paul R, & Annesley, Sarah J (2025). Mitochondrial Measures in Primary Cells Isolated from Patients with ME/CFS.. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-4498-0_12
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-allan-2025-mitochondrial-measures,
author = {Allan, Claire Y and Katsaros, Tina and Missailidis, Daniel and Fisher, Paul R and Annesley, Sarah J},
title = {Mitochondrial Measures in Primary Cells Isolated from Patients with ME/CFS.},
journal = {Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1007/978-1-0716-4498-0_12},
note = {PubMed: 40372685},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/allan-2025-mitochondrial-measures},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/allan-2025-mitochondrial-measures
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