Huang, Katherine, Muneeb, Muhammad, Thomas, Natalie et al. · iScience · 2026 · DOI
Researchers examined blood samples from nearly 900 ME/CFS patients to understand how genes influence metabolism in this condition. They found that people with ME/CFS have different genetic patterns affecting fat and lipid metabolism compared to healthy people, particularly involving genes related to immune function. These genetic differences may help explain why ME/CFS affects different people in different ways.
This study provides genetic evidence for distinct metabolic abnormalities in ME/CFS, potentially explaining why patients experience different symptoms and disease severity. Understanding the metabolic basis of ME/CFS may lead to biomarkers for patient stratification and inform development of targeted treatments. The identification of specific genetic pathways offers a scientific foundation for investigating mechanism-based therapeutic interventions.
This study identifies genetic associations with metabolic biomarkers but does not prove these genetic variants cause ME/CFS or that correcting these metabolic abnormalities will improve symptoms. The findings are correlational and come from a cross-sectional analysis, so causality cannot be established. Additionally, genetic susceptibility does not mean genetic determinism—environmental and other factors are clearly also important in ME/CFS development.
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
Huang, Katherine, Muneeb, Muhammad, Thomas, Natalie, Schneider-Futschik, Elena K, Gooley, Paul R, Ascher, David B, et al. (2026). Exploring a genetic basis for the metabolic perturbations in ME/CFS using UK biobank.. iScience. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.114316
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-huang-2026-exploring-genetic,
author = {Huang, Katherine and Muneeb, Muhammad and Thomas, Natalie and Schneider-Futschik, Elena K and Gooley, Paul R and Ascher, David B and Armstrong, Christopher W},
title = {Exploring a genetic basis for the metabolic perturbations in ME/CFS using UK biobank.},
journal = {iScience},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1016/j.isci.2025.114316},
note = {PubMed: 41536999},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/huang-2026-exploring-genetic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/huang-2026-exploring-genetic
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