Rodriguez, Lucie, Pou, Christian, Lakshmikanth, Tadepally et al. · Oxford open immunology · 2023 · DOI
Researchers tested whether gently stimulating nerve endings inside the nose could help ME/CFS patients feel better. After 8 weeks of treatment, patients showed about a 30% improvement in their overall symptoms. Blood tests showed that ME patients have signs of ongoing immune activation, and those who improved had changes in their immune cells and less inflammation.
This study provides evidence that ME/CFS may respond to targeted neuro-immune interventions, offering hope for a treatment approach in a disease with very few proven therapies. The identification of immune signatures associated with clinical improvement could help researchers understand ME pathophysiology and develop more targeted interventions.
This study does not prove that intranasal stimulation is a definitive cure or that it works equally well for all ME/CFS patients, as individual responses varied. It demonstrates correlation between immune changes and symptom improvement, but does not establish the precise mechanism by which nasal stimulation produces clinical benefit. The 30% improvement rate means 70% of patients did not show substantial improvement, and the study cannot explain why some patients respond and others do not.
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
Rodriguez, Lucie, Pou, Christian, Lakshmikanth, Tadepally, Zhang, Jingdian, Mugabo, Constantin Habimana, Wang, Jun, et al. (2023). Achieving symptom relief in patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis by targeting the neuro-immune interface and optimizing disease tolerance.. Oxford open immunology. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfimm/iqad003
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-rodriguez-2023-achieving-symptom,
author = {Rodriguez, Lucie and Pou, Christian and Lakshmikanth, Tadepally and Zhang, Jingdian and Mugabo, Constantin Habimana and Wang, Jun and Mikes, Jaromir and Olin, Axel and Chen, Yang and Rorbach, Joanna and Juto, Jan-Erik and Li, Tie Qiang and Julin, Per and Brodin, Petter},
title = {Achieving symptom relief in patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis by targeting the neuro-immune interface and optimizing disease tolerance.},
journal = {Oxford open immunology},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.1093/oxfimm/iqad003},
note = {PubMed: 37255930},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/rodriguez-2023-achieving-symptom},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/rodriguez-2023-achieving-symptom
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