Gil, Anna, Hoag, George E, Salerno, John P et al. · Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2024 · DOI
This study found that people with ME/CFS and Long COVID have immune cells (called CD8 T-cells) that don't work properly—they can't produce certain protective substances as well as healthy people can. The researchers also tested a nebulized (inhaled) treatment made from five natural antioxidant ingredients in a small group of patients and found that both the immune cell function and symptom severity improved over time with treatment, without serious side effects.
This research identifies CD8 T-cell dysfunction as a potential shared biological marker for both ME/CFS and Long COVID, which could improve diagnosis and disease tracking. The preliminary evidence suggesting a novel nebulized treatment may improve both immune function and symptoms could open new therapeutic avenues for these disabling conditions that currently lack approved treatments.
This study does not prove that the nebulized treatment causes symptom improvement—the retrospective design without a control group cannot establish causation. The small sample size and lack of blinding mean results may not be reproducible or generalizable. It also does not prove that CD8 T-cell dysfunction is the primary cause of ME/CFS or Long COVID, only that it is associated with these conditions.
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
Gil, Anna, Hoag, George E, Salerno, John P, Hornig, Mady, Klimas, Nancy, & Selin, Liisa K (2024). Identification of CD8 T-cell dysfunction associated with symptoms in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and Long COVID and treatment with a nebulized antioxidant/anti-pathogen agent in a retrospective case series.. Brain, behavior, & immunity - health. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2023.100720
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-gil-2024-identification-cd8,
author = {Gil, Anna and Hoag, George E and Salerno, John P and Hornig, Mady and Klimas, Nancy and Selin, Liisa K},
title = {Identification of CD8 T-cell dysfunction associated with symptoms in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and Long COVID and treatment with a nebulized antioxidant/anti-pathogen agent in a retrospective case series.},
journal = {Brain, behavior, & immunity - health},
year = {2024},
doi = {10.1016/j.bbih.2023.100720},
note = {PubMed: 38327880},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/gil-2024-identification-cd8},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/gil-2024-identification-cd8
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