Lande, Asgeir, Fluge, Øystein, Strand, Elin B et al. · Scientific reports · 2020 · DOI
Researchers studied immune system markers called HLA alleles in 426 Norwegian ME/CFS patients and compared them to healthy controls. They found that two specific immune markers (HLA-C*07:04 and HLA-DQB1*03:03) were more common in ME/CFS patients than in healthy people, suggesting the immune system may play a role in developing ME/CFS. About 1 in 5 ME/CFS patients carried one or both of these markers, compared to 1 in 8 healthy people.
These findings provide the first strong evidence that HLA alleles are associated with ME/CFS susceptibility, supporting the hypothesis that immune dysregulation contributes to disease pathogenesis. This opens avenues for understanding ME/CFS heterogeneity and may eventually inform patient stratification, genetic screening, or immunologically-targeted interventions.
This study does not prove that these HLA alleles cause ME/CFS—correlation does not equal causation. The genetic associations do not explain why most people with these alleles do not develop ME/CFS, nor do they identify the specific immune mechanisms involved. Results are limited to Norwegian populations and may not apply to other ancestries.
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
Lande, Asgeir, Fluge, Øystein, Strand, Elin B, Flåm, Siri T, Sosa, Daysi D, Mella, Olav, et al. (2020). Human Leukocyte Antigen alleles associated with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS).. Scientific reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62157-x
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-lande-2020-human-leukocyte,
author = {Lande, Asgeir and Fluge, Øystein and Strand, Elin B and Flåm, Siri T and Sosa, Daysi D and Mella, Olav and Egeland, Torstein and Saugstad, Ola D and Lie, Benedicte A and Viken, Marte K},
title = {Human Leukocyte Antigen alleles associated with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS).},
journal = {Scientific reports},
year = {2020},
doi = {10.1038/s41598-020-62157-x},
note = {PubMed: 32210306},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/lande-2020-human-leukocyte},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-27. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/lande-2020-human-leukocyte
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