Maya, Jessica · International journal of molecular sciences · 2023 · DOI
This review examined research on how immune cells (T cells and NK cells) work differently in ME/CFS patients compared to healthy people. The authors found evidence that these immune cells may be exhausted or damaged, similar to what happens in chronic viral infections. Understanding why these immune cells aren't functioning properly could help explain ME/CFS symptoms and guide development of better treatments.
This review provides a comprehensive framework for understanding how ME/CFS may involve chronic immune cell dysfunction similar to persistent viral infections. Identifying specific immune cell exhaustion patterns could lead to targeted biomarkers for diagnosis and novel therapeutic approaches to restore immune function in ME/CFS patients.
This review does not prove that ME/CFS is definitely caused by chronic viral infection, nor does it establish that immune exhaustion is the primary mechanism in all ME/CFS patients. The findings are based on synthesizing existing studies rather than new experimental data, and causality between immune dysfunction and ME/CFS symptoms remains unproven.
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
Maya, Jessica (2023). Surveying the Metabolic and Dysfunctional Profiles of T Cells and NK Cells in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.. International journal of molecular sciences. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241511937
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-maya-2023-surveying-metabolic,
author = {Maya, Jessica},
title = {Surveying the Metabolic and Dysfunctional Profiles of T Cells and NK Cells in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.},
journal = {International journal of molecular sciences},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.3390/ijms241511937},
note = {PubMed: 37569313},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/maya-2023-surveying-metabolic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-25. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/maya-2023-surveying-metabolic
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