Jeffrey, Mary G, Nathanson, Lubov, Aenlle, Kristina et al. · Clinical therapeutics · 2019 · DOI
Researchers studied blood samples from 33 ME/CFS patients and 21 healthy people to look for differences in how their genes were working. They found that ME/CFS appears to involve problems with the immune system (the body's defense mechanism) and how cells produce energy. By matching these gene differences with existing FDA-approved drugs, they identified immunosuppressant medications as potential candidates that might help reduce ME/CFS symptoms.
This study provides molecular evidence that immune dysregulation plays a role in ME/CFS symptoms, offering a mechanistic rationale for exploring immune-modulating treatments. Repositioning existing FDA-approved drugs could accelerate access to potential therapies while avoiding lengthy drug development timelines.
This study does not prove that immunosuppressants will actually work as treatments—it only identifies them as candidates based on gene expression patterns. It cannot establish causation or determine whether the observed immune changes cause ME/CFS symptoms or result from them. The findings have not been validated in clinical trials.
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 →
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Primary citation
Jeffrey, Mary G, Nathanson, Lubov, Aenlle, Kristina, Barnes, Zachary M, Baig, Mirza, Broderick, Gordon, et al. (2019). Treatment Avenues in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Split-gender Pharmacogenomic Study of Gene-expression Modules.. Clinical therapeutics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinthera.2019.01.011
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-jeffrey-2019-treatment-avenues,
author = {Jeffrey, Mary G and Nathanson, Lubov and Aenlle, Kristina and Barnes, Zachary M and Baig, Mirza and Broderick, Gordon and Klimas, Nancy G and Fletcher, Mary Ann and Craddock, Travis J A},
title = {Treatment Avenues in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Split-gender Pharmacogenomic Study of Gene-expression Modules.},
journal = {Clinical therapeutics},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.1016/j.clinthera.2019.01.011},
note = {PubMed: 30851951},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/jeffrey-2019-treatment-avenues},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/jeffrey-2019-treatment-avenues
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