Goshi, Noah, Lam, Doris, Bogguri, Chandrakumar et al. · Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2025 · DOI
This study looked at how two inflammatory chemicals (TNF-α and IL-6) that are elevated in ME/CFS and long-COVID patients affect brain cells. Researchers grew human brain cells in the lab and exposed them to these chemicals for several days. They found that these inflammatory chemicals changed how the brain cells communicate with each other, which could help explain why patients experience cognitive problems like brain fog and difficulty concentrating.
This research provides direct experimental evidence that elevated inflammatory cytokines present in ME/CFS patients can impair neural communication and activity, offering a potential biological mechanism for cognitive dysfunction in this population. Understanding these direct effects may guide development of targeted treatments to restore brain function and reduce cognitive symptoms.
This study does not prove that TNF-α and IL-6 are the sole causes of cognitive impairment in ME/CFS, nor does it establish whether reversing these cytokine elevations would restore cognitive function in patients. The findings are from laboratory-cultured cells and may not fully replicate the complex brain environment in living patients with ME/CFS.
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
Goshi, Noah, Lam, Doris, Bogguri, Chandrakumar, George, Vivek Kurien, Sebastian, Aimy, Cadena, Jose, et al. (2025). Direct effects of prolonged TNF-α and IL-6 exposure on neural activity in human iPSC-derived neuron-astrocyte co-cultures.. Frontiers in cellular neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2025.1512591
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-goshi-2025-direct-effects,
author = {Goshi, Noah and Lam, Doris and Bogguri, Chandrakumar and George, Vivek Kurien and Sebastian, Aimy and Cadena, Jose and Leon, Nicole F and Hum, Nicholas R and Weilhammer, Dina R and Fischer, Nicholas O and Enright, Heather A},
title = {Direct effects of prolonged TNF-α and IL-6 exposure on neural activity in human iPSC-derived neuron-astrocyte co-cultures.},
journal = {Frontiers in cellular neuroscience},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.3389/fncel.2025.1512591},
note = {PubMed: 40012566},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/goshi-2025-direct-effects},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/goshi-2025-direct-effects
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