Domingo, Joan Carles, Battistini, Federica, Cordobilla, Begoña et al. · Journal of translational medicine · 2024 · DOI
This study compared blood markers and body responses between people with ME/CFS, people with long COVID, and healthy controls. Researchers found that people with ME/CFS had distinct patterns of inflammation and blood vessel dysfunction compared to long COVID patients, suggesting these are different conditions with different underlying problems. By measuring specific proteins in the blood and testing how the body responds to positional changes, researchers could tell the two patient groups apart.
This study provides objective biological evidence that ME/CFS and long COVID are distinct conditions with different biomarker signatures, which could help clinicians improve diagnosis and tailor treatments. Finding specific markers for ME/CFS—particularly inflammatory proteins—opens avenues for developing targeted therapies and better understanding disease mechanisms.
This study cannot establish causation—elevated biomarkers may be consequences rather than causes of illness. The cross-sectional design captures only a single timepoint, so it cannot determine whether these markers change over time or predict disease progression. Results are limited to a small sample from one site and require validation in larger, multi-center cohorts before clinical application.
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
Domingo, Joan Carles, Battistini, Federica, Cordobilla, Begoña, Zaragozá, Maria Cleofé, Sanmartin-Sentañes, Ramón, Alegre-Martin, Jose, et al. (2024). Association of circulating biomarkers with illness severity measures differentiates myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and post-COVID-19 condition: a prospective pilot cohort study.. Journal of translational medicine. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-024-05148-0
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-domingo-2024-association-circulating,
author = {Domingo, Joan Carles and Battistini, Federica and Cordobilla, Begoña and Zaragozá, Maria Cleofé and Sanmartin-Sentañes, Ramón and Alegre-Martin, Jose and Cambras, Trinitat and Castro-Marrero, Jesus},
title = {Association of circulating biomarkers with illness severity measures differentiates myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and post-COVID-19 condition: a prospective pilot cohort study.},
journal = {Journal of translational medicine},
year = {2024},
doi = {10.1186/s12967-024-05148-0},
note = {PubMed: 38600563},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/domingo-2024-association-circulating},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/domingo-2024-association-circulating
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