Eaton-Fitch, Natalie, Du Preez, Stanley, Cabanas, Hélène et al. · Journal of translational medicine · 2022 · DOI
This study found that immune cells called natural killer cells in ME/CFS patients have a broken calcium channel (TRPM3) that prevents them from working properly. When researchers treated these cells overnight with a drug called naltrexone, the calcium channel started working better and the immune cells functioned more like those from healthy people. This suggests that ME/CFS may involve faulty ion channels and that naltrexone could potentially help restore immune cell function.
This research provides mechanistic evidence that ME/CFS involves defective ion channel function in immune cells, which could explain the persistent immune dysfunction observed in patients. The finding that naltrexone can restore calcium signaling in vitro offers a potential therapeutic target and may explain clinical observations of naltrexone benefits in some ME/CFS patients.
This study does not prove that naltrexone will be clinically effective in ME/CFS patients in real-world conditions—only that it works in isolated cells in a lab dish. The findings do not establish that TRPM3 dysfunction is the sole cause of ME/CFS or that restoring calcium influx will fully reverse disease symptoms. It also does not address whether other ion channels or cellular mechanisms contribute to ME/CFS pathology.
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
Eaton-Fitch, Natalie, Du Preez, Stanley, Cabanas, Hélène, Muraki, Katsuhiko, Staines, Donald, & Marshall-Gradisnik, Sonya (2022). Impaired TRPM3-dependent calcium influx and restoration using Naltrexone in natural killer cells of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome patients.. Journal of translational medicine. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-022-03297-8
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-eaton-fitch-2022-impaired-trpm3,
author = {Eaton-Fitch, Natalie and Du Preez, Stanley and Cabanas, Hélène and Muraki, Katsuhiko and Staines, Donald and Marshall-Gradisnik, Sonya},
title = {Impaired TRPM3-dependent calcium influx and restoration using Naltrexone in natural killer cells of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome patients.},
journal = {Journal of translational medicine},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.1186/s12967-022-03297-8},
note = {PubMed: 35172836},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/eaton-fitch-2022-impaired-trpm3},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/eaton-fitch-2022-impaired-trpm3
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