Bynke, Annie, Julin, Per, Gottfries, Carl-Gerhard et al. · Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2020 · DOI
Researchers tested blood and spinal fluid samples from ME/CFS patients and healthy people to look for certain antibodies (immune proteins) that mistakenly attack nerve receptors in the body. They found higher levels of some of these antibodies in ME/CFS patients compared to healthy controls, particularly antibodies targeting muscarinic receptors (involved in nerve signaling). However, the amount of these antibodies did not match how severe patients' symptoms were.
This study provides validation that autoantibody abnormalities exist in ME/CFS, potentially supporting the hypothesis that autoimmune mechanisms contribute to disease pathogenesis. Understanding whether these antibodies drive symptoms could open new diagnostic and treatment avenues for patients with this debilitating condition.
This study does not prove that these autoantibodies actually cause ME/CFS symptoms or are pathologically significant—it only shows they are present at higher levels. The absence of correlation with disease severity and lack of CSF findings suggest these autoantibodies may not directly explain symptom severity. Observing autoantibodies does not establish causation or clarify their functional role in disease mechanisms.
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
Bynke, Annie, Julin, Per, Gottfries, Carl-Gerhard, Heidecke, Harald, Scheibenbogen, Carmen, & Bergquist, Jonas (2020). Autoantibodies to beta-adrenergic and muscarinic cholinergic receptors in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) patients - A validation study in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid from two Swedish cohorts.. Brain, behavior, & immunity - health. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2020.100107
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-bynke-2020-autoantibodies-beta,
author = {Bynke, Annie and Julin, Per and Gottfries, Carl-Gerhard and Heidecke, Harald and Scheibenbogen, Carmen and Bergquist, Jonas},
title = {Autoantibodies to beta-adrenergic and muscarinic cholinergic receptors in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) patients - A validation study in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid from two Swedish cohorts.},
journal = {Brain, behavior, & immunity - health},
year = {2020},
doi = {10.1016/j.bbih.2020.100107},
note = {PubMed: 34589868},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/bynke-2020-autoantibodies-beta},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/bynke-2020-autoantibodies-beta
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