Giloteaux, Ludovic, O'Neal, Adam, Castro-Marrero, Jesús et al. · Journal of translational medicine · 2020 · DOI
This study looked at tiny particles called extracellular vesicles (EVs) in the blood of ME/CFS patients and compared them to healthy people. The researchers found that ME/CFS patients had more of these small particles, and the chemical messengers (cytokines) inside and around them showed unusual patterns of interaction that differed from healthy controls. This suggests that immune system signaling may be working differently in ME/CFS.
This study provides novel evidence that immune dysregulation in ME/CFS may involve abnormal cytokine communication patterns rather than simply elevated or decreased individual cytokine levels. Understanding these altered immune network dynamics could lead to better diagnostic markers and targeted therapeutic approaches for ME/CFS patients.
This study does not establish causation—elevated EVs and altered cytokine correlations are associated with ME/CFS but do not prove they cause the disease. The pilot design and small subset analyzed for cytokine networks (n=19) limit the strength of conclusions. Cross-sectional design prevents determination of whether these findings predate illness onset or result from it.
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
Giloteaux, Ludovic, O'Neal, Adam, Castro-Marrero, Jesús, Levine, Susan M, & Hanson, Maureen R (2020). Cytokine profiling of extracellular vesicles isolated from plasma in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: a pilot study.. Journal of translational medicine. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-020-02560-0
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-giloteaux-2020-cytokine-profiling,
author = {Giloteaux, Ludovic and O'Neal, Adam and Castro-Marrero, Jesús and Levine, Susan M and Hanson, Maureen R},
title = {Cytokine profiling of extracellular vesicles isolated from plasma in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: a pilot study.},
journal = {Journal of translational medicine},
year = {2020},
doi = {10.1186/s12967-020-02560-0},
note = {PubMed: 33046133},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/giloteaux-2020-cytokine-profiling},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/giloteaux-2020-cytokine-profiling
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