Op De Beéck, Katrijn, Maes, Liesbeth, Van den Bergh, Karolien et al. · Arthritis and rheumatism · 2012 · DOI
This study looked for specific autoantibodies (immune proteins that attack the body's own cells) in people with various rheumatic diseases, including those with chronic fatigue syndrome. Researchers tested blood samples from hundreds of patients and healthy controls, measuring antibodies against different protein targets called hnRNPs. They found that people with Sjögren's syndrome (an autoimmune disease affecting glands) had significantly more of these antibodies compared to healthy people.
This research is relevant to ME/CFS because the study included chronic fatigue syndrome patients as a control group, allowing comparison of autoantibody profiles between CFS and connective tissue diseases. Understanding autoantibody patterns may help clarify whether ME/CFS shares autoimmune features with diseases like Sjögren's syndrome, which could inform diagnostic approaches and potential mechanisms.
This study does not prove that hnRNP autoantibodies cause Sjögren's syndrome or other rheumatic diseases—it only documents their association. The study does not establish whether CFS patients have elevated hnRNP autoantibodies compared to healthy controls, nor does it clarify the functional significance of these antibodies in disease pathogenesis. Cross-sectional design limits causal inference.
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
Op De Beéck, Katrijn, Maes, Liesbeth, Van den Bergh, Karolien, Derua, Rita, Waelkens, Etienne, Van Steen, Kristel, et al. (2012). Heterogeneous nuclear RNPs as targets of autoantibodies in systemic rheumatic diseases.. Arthritis and rheumatism. https://doi.org/10.1002/art.33327
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-op-de-beck-2012-heterogeneous-nuclear,
author = {Op De Beéck, Katrijn and Maes, Liesbeth and Van den Bergh, Karolien and Derua, Rita and Waelkens, Etienne and Van Steen, Kristel and Vermeersch, Pieter and Westhovens, René and De Vlam, Kurt and Verschueren, Patrick and Hooijkaas, Herbert and Blockmans, Daniel and Bossuyt, Xavier},
title = {Heterogeneous nuclear RNPs as targets of autoantibodies in systemic rheumatic diseases.},
journal = {Arthritis and rheumatism},
year = {2012},
doi = {10.1002/art.33327},
note = {PubMed: 21905010},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/op-de-beck-2012-heterogeneous-nuclear},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/op-de-beck-2012-heterogeneous-nuclear
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