Cliff, Jacqueline M, King, Elizabeth C, Lee, Ji-Sook et al. · Frontiers in immunology · 2019 · DOI
This study examined the immune system of ME/CFS patients by testing their blood for signs of infection and measuring different types of immune cells. Researchers compared 251 ME/CFS patients (including 54 with severe ME/CFS) to healthy people and multiple sclerosis patients. They found that ME/CFS patients had unusual patterns in their T cells—a type of immune cell—but not in natural killer cells, contrary to what some earlier studies suggested.
This research provides evidence that ME/CFS involves measurable immune system dysfunction, potentially explaining why patients experience frequent infections and prolonged illness. For severely affected patients especially, these findings may help validate that ME/CFS is a biological condition and could eventually guide development of immune-targeted treatments.
This study cannot determine whether the observed T cell changes cause ME/CFS symptoms or result from ongoing/past infections. It does not establish that immunological dysfunction is present in all ME/CFS patients, nor does it prove that correcting these abnormalities would improve patient outcomes. The cross-sectional design means we cannot determine the temporal sequence of events.
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
Cliff, Jacqueline M, King, Elizabeth C, Lee, Ji-Sook, Sepúlveda, Nuno, Wolf, Asia-Sophia, Kingdon, Caroline, et al. (2019). Cellular Immune Function in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS).. Frontiers in immunology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2019.00796
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-cliff-2019-cellular-immune,
author = {Cliff, Jacqueline M and King, Elizabeth C and Lee, Ji-Sook and Sepúlveda, Nuno and Wolf, Asia-Sophia and Kingdon, Caroline and Bowman, Erinna and Dockrell, Hazel M and Nacul, Luis and Lacerda, Eliana and Riley, Eleanor M},
title = {Cellular Immune Function in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS).},
journal = {Frontiers in immunology},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.3389/fimmu.2019.00796},
note = {PubMed: 31057538},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cliff-2019-cellular-immune},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cliff-2019-cellular-immune
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