Gravelsina, Sabine, Vilmane, Anda, Svirskis, Simons et al. · Frontiers in immunology · 2022 · DOI
This study looked for biological markers (measurable signs in the blood) that could help doctors diagnose ME/CFS more easily. Researchers tested 134 ME/CFS patients and 33 healthy people for a virus called HHV-6 and specific antibodies that attack nerve receptors. They found that ME/CFS patients had higher levels of certain antibodies compared to healthy controls, and patients with more virus in their blood tended to have more severe symptoms.
ME/CFS currently lacks objective diagnostic tests; this study identifies potential blood-based biomarkers that could eventually help clinicians confirm diagnosis more reliably. The findings suggest HHV-6 viral load may be a severity indicator, potentially opening new avenues for understanding disease progression and stratifying patients for treatment.
This study does not prove that these biomarkers cause ME/CFS or that they are sufficient alone for diagnosis—they were only compared between patient and control groups at a single timepoint. The cross-sectional design cannot establish whether high viral loads precede symptom severity or vice versa, nor whether these biomarkers change over time within individual patients. The study does not demonstrate clinical utility for these markers in routine diagnostic practice.
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
Gravelsina, Sabine, Vilmane, Anda, Svirskis, Simons, Rasa-Dzelzkaleja, Santa, Nora-Krukle, Zaiga, Vecvagare, Katrine, et al. (2022). Biomarkers in the diagnostic algorithm of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.. Frontiers in immunology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.928945
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-gravelsina-2022-biomarkers-diagnostic,
author = {Gravelsina, Sabine and Vilmane, Anda and Svirskis, Simons and Rasa-Dzelzkaleja, Santa and Nora-Krukle, Zaiga and Vecvagare, Katrine and Krumina, Angelika and Leineman, Iana and Shoenfeld, Yehuda and Murovska, Modra},
title = {Biomarkers in the diagnostic algorithm of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Frontiers in immunology},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.3389/fimmu.2022.928945},
note = {PubMed: 36300129},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/gravelsina-2022-biomarkers-diagnostic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/gravelsina-2022-biomarkers-diagnostic
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