Hochecker, Barbara, Molinski, Noah, Matt, Katja et al. · Journal of thermal biology · 2024 · DOI
This study tested whether a gentle heat treatment called water-filtered infrared-A (wIRA) could affect how cells work in ME/CFS patients compared to healthy people. Researchers warmed cells from both groups to 39°C for one hour and looked at three important cellular processes: autophagy (cells cleaning themselves), mitochondrial function (energy production), and gene activity. The heat treatment activated cleaning and stress-response processes in all cells tested, and in ME/CFS cells specifically, it slightly reduced the high mitochondrial activity toward levels seen in healthy cells.
Understanding cellular mechanisms that differ between ME/CFS patients and healthy individuals is crucial for developing targeted treatments. This study provides molecular evidence that heat treatment can modulate key dysfunctional cellular processes in ME/CFS, particularly the abnormally elevated mitochondrial activity that characterizes many ME/CFS patients. These findings open a pathway toward investigating wIRA as a potential non-pharmacological therapeutic intervention.
This in vitro study does not prove that wIRA heat treatment will be clinically effective in ME/CFS patients or safe for prolonged use. The study measures immediate cellular responses but does not establish whether these changes persist, translate to symptom improvement, or whether whole-body hyperthermia would produce similar effects. The small sample size and single treatment timepoint limit generalizability of findings.
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
Hochecker, Barbara, Molinski, Noah, Matt, Katja, Meßmer, Alica, Scherer, Melanie, von Ardenne, Alexander, et al. (2024). Heat treatment in health and disease: How water-filtered infrared-A (wIRA) irradiation affects key cellular mechanisms in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) patients compared to healthy donors.. Journal of thermal biology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtherbio.2024.103813
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-hochecker-2024-heat-treatment,
author = {Hochecker, Barbara and Molinski, Noah and Matt, Katja and Meßmer, Alica and Scherer, Melanie and von Ardenne, Alexander and Bergemann, Jörg},
title = {Heat treatment in health and disease: How water-filtered infrared-A (wIRA) irradiation affects key cellular mechanisms in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) patients compared to healthy donors.},
journal = {Journal of thermal biology},
year = {2024},
doi = {10.1016/j.jtherbio.2024.103813},
note = {PubMed: 38412735},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/hochecker-2024-heat-treatment},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/hochecker-2024-heat-treatment
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