Azcue, Naiara, Tijero-Merino, Beatriz, Acera, Marian et al. · Biomedicines · 2024 · DOI
Researchers measured a protein called neurofilament light chain (NfL) in the blood of ME/CFS patients and healthy people. They found that ME/CFS patients had higher levels of this protein, which suggests nerve damage in the brain and nervous system. The patients with higher NfL levels also had more problems with memory, thinking clearly, and with their autonomic nervous system (the part that controls heart rate and other automatic body functions).
ME/CFS currently lacks objective diagnostic biomarkers, making diagnosis difficult and delayed. This study provides evidence that NfL—a measurable blood protein—correlates with neurological symptoms in ME/CFS, potentially offering a tool to objectively identify neurological dysfunction and validate patients' cognitive and autonomic complaints.
This study cannot prove that elevated NfL causes cognitive or autonomic problems—only that they are associated. The cross-sectional design means we cannot determine whether NfL elevation precedes symptom onset or results from ongoing disease. The findings are preliminary and require validation in larger, longitudinal studies before NfL can be used clinically as a diagnostic or prognostic biomarker.
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 →
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