Plioplys, A V · Neurology · 1997 · DOI
Researchers investigated whether people with ME/CFS have antibodies (immune proteins) in their blood that attack muscles or the brain, which could explain fatigue and brain fog symptoms. They compared 10 ME/CFS patients with 10 healthy controls but did not find evidence of these harmful antibodies in either group.
This study addresses a plausible autoimmune hypothesis for ME/CFS—that circulating antibodies could trigger the characteristic muscle weakness and cognitive symptoms. Understanding whether autoimmunity drives ME/CFS has important implications for treatment strategies and helps narrow the search for underlying disease mechanisms.
This negative finding does not definitively rule out autoimmune contributions to ME/CFS, as other unmeasured autoantibodies may be involved, antibodies may be present only at certain disease stages, or pathogenic mechanisms may not involve the specific targets examined. The small sample size limits the statistical power to detect true differences between groups.
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
Plioplys, A V (1997). Antimuscle and anti-CNS circulating antibodies in chronic fatigue syndrome.. Neurology. https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.48.6.1717
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-plioplys-1997-antimuscle-anti,
author = {Plioplys, A V},
title = {Antimuscle and anti-CNS circulating antibodies in chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Neurology},
year = {1997},
doi = {10.1212/wnl.48.6.1717},
note = {PubMed: 9191795},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/plioplys-1997-antimuscle-anti},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/plioplys-1997-antimuscle-anti
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