Peppercorn, Katie, Edgar, Christina D, Al Momani, Suzan et al. · Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2025 · DOI
This study describes a technique called RRBS that examines how chemical tags on our DNA (called methylation) are different in ME/CFS patients compared to healthy people. These tags act like switches that turn genes on or off, and abnormal patterns might help explain why ME/CFS causes such severe symptoms. The researchers show how this method can be used to identify patterns that could eventually lead to better diagnostic tests or ways to track how the illness changes over time.
Identifying biomarkers for ME/CFS is critically important since the condition currently lacks objective diagnostic tests, forcing patients to rely on clinical criteria alone. This DNA methylation approach could eventually enable early diagnosis, disease monitoring, and assessment of treatment response—potentially transforming how ME/CFS is clinically managed. Understanding the epigenetic basis of ME/CFS may also reveal key biological mechanisms underlying the illness, particularly its post-viral origins.
This methodological study does not prove that specific methylation changes cause ME/CFS symptoms or that these epigenetic patterns are disease-specific. The paper does not present clinical validation data showing that methylation biomarkers can reliably diagnose ME/CFS in independent patient populations. It also does not establish whether methylation changes are primary drivers of pathology or secondary consequences of the disease process.
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
Peppercorn, Katie, Edgar, Christina D, Al Momani, Suzan, Rodger, Euan J, Tate, Warren P, & Chatterjee, Aniruddha (2025). Application of DNA Methylome Analysis to Patients with ME/CFS.. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-4498-0_9
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-peppercorn-2025-application-dna,
author = {Peppercorn, Katie and Edgar, Christina D and Al Momani, Suzan and Rodger, Euan J and Tate, Warren P and Chatterjee, Aniruddha},
title = {Application of DNA Methylome Analysis to Patients with ME/CFS.},
journal = {Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1007/978-1-0716-4498-0_9},
note = {PubMed: 40372682},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/peppercorn-2025-application-dna},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/peppercorn-2025-application-dna
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