Jahanbani, Fereshteh, Maynard, Rajan D, Sing, Justin Cyril et al. · PloS one · 2022 · DOI
Researchers used a powerful microscope to examine immune cells from people with ME/CFS and found several abnormalities. They observed that immune cells from ME/CFS patients died more frequently when activated, had swollen energy-producing structures (mitochondria), and in one severely ill patient, contained unusual fat-like accumulations. These cellular changes suggest that ME/CFS involves real, measurable damage to immune system function.
This study provides direct ultrastructural evidence of immune cell dysfunction in ME/CFS, potentially explaining why patients have impaired immune responses and post-exertional symptom worsening. The findings suggest ME/CFS involves measurable cellular pathology rather than being purely functional, which may inform future diagnostic tests and therapeutic targets.
This pilot study cannot establish whether the observed cellular abnormalities cause ME/CFS symptoms or result from the disease. The very small sample size and lack of age/sex-matched controls for all conditions limit generalizability. The findings are descriptive morphology and do not prove a specific disease mechanism or identify therapeutic interventions.
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
Jahanbani, Fereshteh, Maynard, Rajan D, Sing, Justin Cyril, Jahanbani, Shaghayegh, Perrino, John J, Spacek, Damek V, et al. (2022). Phenotypic characteristics of peripheral immune cells of Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome via transmission electron microscopy: A pilot study.. PloS one. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272703
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-jahanbani-2022-phenotypic-characteristics,
author = {Jahanbani, Fereshteh and Maynard, Rajan D and Sing, Justin Cyril and Jahanbani, Shaghayegh and Perrino, John J and Spacek, Damek V and Davis, Ronald W and Snyder, Michael P},
title = {Phenotypic characteristics of peripheral immune cells of Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome via transmission electron microscopy: A pilot study.},
journal = {PloS one},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0272703},
note = {PubMed: 35943990},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/jahanbani-2022-phenotypic-characteristics},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-27. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/jahanbani-2022-phenotypic-characteristics
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