Kuratsune, H, Yamaguti, K, Lindh, G et al. · International journal of molecular medicine · 1998 · DOI
Researchers measured a substance called acylcarnitine in the blood of people with ME/CFS and compared it to healthy people and those with other diseases. They found that people with ME/CFS had significantly lower levels of this substance, and this same pattern appeared in both Japanese and Swedish patients. Importantly, this low level was only seen in ME/CFS and one other condition (chronic hepatitis C), not in other common diseases like diabetes or high blood pressure.
This study identifies a potential biological marker—low acylcarnitine—that may be characteristic of ME/CFS across different populations (Japanese and Swedish), suggesting a fundamental metabolic abnormality. Finding disease-specific biomarkers is critical for ME/CFS, where diagnosis remains clinical, and this work supports the biological basis of the condition rather than it being psychiatric in origin.
This study does not establish whether low acylcarnitine causes ME/CFS symptoms or is merely a consequence of the disease. The cross-sectional design cannot determine whether acylcarnitine levels change over time or predict disease outcomes. Additionally, the study does not establish whether this finding represents a universal characteristic across all ME/CFS patients or only certain subgroups.
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
Kuratsune, H, Yamaguti, K, Lindh, G, Evengard, B, Takahashi, M, Machii, T, et al. (1998). Low levels of serum acylcarnitine in chronic fatigue syndrome and chronic hepatitis type C, but not seen in other diseases.. International journal of molecular medicine. https://doi.org/10.3892/ijmm.2.1.51
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-kuratsune-1998-low-levels,
author = {Kuratsune, H and Yamaguti, K and Lindh, G and Evengard, B and Takahashi, M and Machii, T and Matsumura, K and Takaishi, J and Kawata, S and Långström, B and Kanakura, Y and Kitani, T and Watanabe, Y},
title = {Low levels of serum acylcarnitine in chronic fatigue syndrome and chronic hepatitis type C, but not seen in other diseases.},
journal = {International journal of molecular medicine},
year = {1998},
doi = {10.3892/ijmm.2.1.51},
note = {PubMed: 9854142},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kuratsune-1998-low-levels},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kuratsune-1998-low-levels
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.