Loebel, Madlen, Eckey, Maren, Sotzny, Franziska et al. · PloS one · 2017 · DOI
This study examined whether ME/CFS patients have different immune responses to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a common virus that can cause mononucleosis. Researchers compared antibody patterns in 92 ME/CFS patients versus 50 healthy people and found that ME/CFS patients had slightly higher antibody levels against a specific EBV protein called EBNA-6. This suggests that some ME/CFS patients may have an altered immune response to EBV, though most antibody patterns were similar between patients and healthy controls.
EBV is suspected as a trigger or cofactor in ME/CFS, and many patients report illness onset after mononucleosis. This study provides molecular evidence that ME/CFS may involve altered immune recognition of specific EBV proteins, potentially linking viral infection to disease pathogenesis and opening avenues for understanding autoimmune mechanisms in ME/CFS.
This study does not prove that EBV causes ME/CFS or that EBNA-6 antibodies are specific diagnostic markers for the disease. It is a cross-sectional design showing association only, not causation; it also does not establish whether enhanced EBNA-6 responses are a consequence of ME/CFS rather than a cause. The similar overall EBV profiles between ME/CFS and healthy controls suggests EBV involvement may be limited to a subset of patients.
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
Loebel, Madlen, Eckey, Maren, Sotzny, Franziska, Hahn, Elisabeth, Bauer, Sandra, Grabowski, Patricia, et al. (2017). Serological profiling of the EBV immune response in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome using a peptide microarray.. PloS one. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0179124
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-loebel-2017-serological-profiling,
author = {Loebel, Madlen and Eckey, Maren and Sotzny, Franziska and Hahn, Elisabeth and Bauer, Sandra and Grabowski, Patricia and Zerweck, Johannes and Holenya, Pavlo and Hanitsch, Leif G and Wittke, Kirsten and Borchmann, Peter and Rüffer, Jens-Ulrich and Hiepe, Falk and Ruprecht, Klemens and Behrends, Uta and Meindl, Carola and Volk, Hans-Dieter and Reimer, Ulf and Scheibenbogen, Carmen},
title = {Serological profiling of the EBV immune response in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome using a peptide microarray.},
journal = {PloS one},
year = {2017},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0179124},
note = {PubMed: 28604802},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/loebel-2017-serological-profiling},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/loebel-2017-serological-profiling
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