de Vega, Wilfred C, Erdman, Lauren, Vernon, Suzanne D et al. · Epigenomics · 2018 · DOI
Researchers studied 70 women with ME/CFS and found that their DNA showed different chemical patterns in immune cells. These chemical differences matched up with specific symptoms and health problems that patients reported. The study identified four distinct subtypes of ME/CFS, each with its own pattern of DNA changes and symptom profile, suggesting that ME/CFS may not be one uniform condition but rather several related conditions with different underlying biology.
This study provides objective evidence that ME/CFS is not a single disease but comprises distinct biological subtypes with different immune and metabolic signatures. Identifying these subtypes could help explain why patients respond differently to treatments and move the field toward precision medicine approaches tailored to individual subtype profiles.
This study does not prove that DNA methylation changes cause ME/CFS symptoms—it only shows they are associated. The cross-sectional design cannot establish whether methylation differences precede disease onset or result from it. The findings are limited to women and require validation in larger, diverse populations and longitudinal studies.
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
de Vega, Wilfred C, Erdman, Lauren, Vernon, Suzanne D, Goldenberg, Anna, & McGowan, Patrick O (2018). Integration of DNA methylation & health scores identifies subtypes in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.. Epigenomics. https://doi.org/10.2217/epi-2017-0150
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-de-vega-2018-integration-dna,
author = {de Vega, Wilfred C and Erdman, Lauren and Vernon, Suzanne D and Goldenberg, Anna and McGowan, Patrick O},
title = {Integration of DNA methylation & health scores identifies subtypes in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Epigenomics},
year = {2018},
doi = {10.2217/epi-2017-0150},
note = {PubMed: 29692205},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/de-vega-2018-integration-dna},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/de-vega-2018-integration-dna
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