Nijs, Jo, De Becker, Pascale, De Meirleir, Kenny et al. · Chest · 2003 · DOI
Some ME/CFS patients experience unusual airway sensitivity (called bronchial hyperresponsiveness), but the reason why is unclear. This study tested whether this airway sensitivity is caused by specific immune system problems. Researchers found that patients with airway sensitivity had different immune cell patterns than healthy people, but these differences were not the same type seen in asthma, suggesting a different mechanism is at work.
Bronchial hyperresponsiveness affects roughly half of CFS patients, yet its cause remains unexplained. Understanding that BHR in ME/CFS involves T-cell activation rather than classical allergic inflammation could redirect clinical management away from asthma-based treatments and toward immune-targeted interventions. This distinction matters for developing better therapeutic approaches tailored to the actual disease mechanism.
This study does not prove that T-cell activation causes BHR—only that the two are associated. The cross-sectional design cannot establish causality or temporal relationships. It also does not explain why only some CFS patients develop BHR, nor does it rule out that immune activation and BHR might both stem from a third, unmeasured factor.
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
Nijs, Jo, De Becker, Pascale, De Meirleir, Kenny, Demanet, Christian, Vincken, Walter, Schuermans, Daniel, et al. (2003). Associations between bronchial hyperresponsiveness and immune cell parameters in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.. Chest. https://doi.org/10.1378/chest.123.4.998
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-nijs-2003-associations-between,
author = {Nijs, Jo and De Becker, Pascale and De Meirleir, Kenny and Demanet, Christian and Vincken, Walter and Schuermans, Daniel and McGregor, Neil},
title = {Associations between bronchial hyperresponsiveness and immune cell parameters in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Chest},
year = {2003},
doi = {10.1378/chest.123.4.998},
note = {PubMed: 12684286},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/nijs-2003-associations-between},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/nijs-2003-associations-between
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