Clarke, Krista S P, Kingdon, Caroline C, Hughes, Michael Pycraft et al. · Journal of translational medicine · 2025 · DOI
This review looked at recent research on finding a simple blood test that could definitively diagnose ME/CFS, which currently takes years and relies on ruling out other diseases. Scientists have found several promising approaches—including measuring immune cell properties, checking how blood cells respond to stress, and detecting metabolic changes—that show they can tell ME/CFS patients apart from healthy people and others with different illnesses. However, these tests need more testing in larger groups and practical refinement before doctors can use them in everyday care.
ME/CFS patients currently endure years of diagnostic uncertainty and inappropriate treatments due to lack of objective diagnostic criteria; establishing a blood-based biomarker could dramatically reduce time-to-diagnosis, reduce misdiagnosis, and provide scientific validation for a disease often dismissed as psychological. For researchers, these identified biochemical and electrophysiological signatures may illuminate disease mechanisms involving immune dysfunction, metabolic impairment, and ion channel abnormalities, potentially opening therapeutic avenues.
This review does not prove that any single biomarker is ready for clinical use—it identifies promising candidates requiring further validation. It does not establish causal mechanisms of ME/CFS, only that measurable differences exist in biological properties. The review does not demonstrate that these biomarkers will be practical, affordable, or accessible in routine clinical settings without additional development.
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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Primary citation
Clarke, Krista S P, Kingdon, Caroline C, Hughes, Michael Pycraft, Lacerda, Eliana Mattos, Lewis, Rebecca, Kruchek, Emily J, et al. (2025). The search for a blood-based biomarker for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): from biochemistry to electrophysiology.. Journal of translational medicine. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-025-06146-6
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-clarke-2025-search-blood,
author = {Clarke, Krista S P and Kingdon, Caroline C and Hughes, Michael Pycraft and Lacerda, Eliana Mattos and Lewis, Rebecca and Kruchek, Emily J and Dorey, Robert A and Labeed, Fatima H},
title = {The search for a blood-based biomarker for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): from biochemistry to electrophysiology.},
journal = {Journal of translational medicine},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1186/s12967-025-06146-6},
note = {PubMed: 39905423},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/clarke-2025-search-blood},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/clarke-2025-search-blood
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