Mensah, Fane Kojo Fosu, Bansal, Amolak Singh, Ford, Brian et al. · Neurophysiologie clinique = Clinical neurophysiology · 2017 · DOI
ME/CFS is a complex illness that causes exhaustion, headaches, and thinking problems, and gets worse with activity. Researchers have suspected for years that the immune system plays a role in ME/CFS, but studies have produced confusing and sometimes contradictory results. This review examines what we currently know about immune system changes in ME/CFS and discusses promising new research directions, including the possibility that certain immune-targeting treatments might help patients improve.
Understanding the immune mechanisms in ME/CFS is critical because it may lead to targeted treatments—the review notes that B cell depletion therapy shows clinical promise, offering hope for patients with limited current treatment options. This systematic review synthesizes existing immunological evidence to guide future research directions and help explain why ME/CFS symptoms often begin after infections.
This review does not prove that immune dysfunction is the sole cause of ME/CFS, nor does it establish causation between specific immune markers and disease symptoms. The authors acknowledge significant inconsistencies between studies, meaning no single immune abnormality has been definitively confirmed as universal to all ME/CFS patients. It does not compare the effectiveness of B cell depletion therapy head-to-head with other treatments.
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
Mensah, Fane Kojo Fosu, Bansal, Amolak Singh, Ford, Brian, & Cambridge, Geraldine (2017). Chronic fatigue syndrome and the immune system: Where are we now?. Neurophysiologie clinique = Clinical neurophysiology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neucli.2017.02.002
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-mensah-2017-chronic-fatigue,
author = {Mensah, Fane Kojo Fosu and Bansal, Amolak Singh and Ford, Brian and Cambridge, Geraldine},
title = {Chronic fatigue syndrome and the immune system: Where are we now?},
journal = {Neurophysiologie clinique = Clinical neurophysiology},
year = {2017},
doi = {10.1016/j.neucli.2017.02.002},
note = {PubMed: 28410877},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/mensah-2017-chronic-fatigue},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/mensah-2017-chronic-fatigue
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