Shahbaz, Shima, Rezaeifar, Maryam, Syed, Hussein et al. · Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2025 · DOI
Researchers studied blood samples from Long COVID patients with ME/CFS-like symptoms and compared them to healthy controls. They found that certain genes related to immune function and brain health were turned on in the patients, while others were turned off. The study also discovered unusual activation of smell-related genes and changes in immune cell types, suggesting the body remains in a state of ongoing inflammation and stress.
This study identifies potential biomarkers (particularly RELN and immune cell alterations) that could improve LC/ME/CFS diagnosis and monitoring. The comprehensive gene expression profile provides mechanistic insights into how persistent immune dysregulation and neuroinflammation may drive long-term symptoms, informing future therapeutic target development.
This study does not prove that the observed gene changes cause ME/CFS symptoms—only that they are associated with the condition. It cannot establish whether these changes are primary drivers of disease or secondary consequences of infection. The findings require functional validation and longitudinal studies to determine causality and clinical relevance.
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
Shahbaz, Shima, Rezaeifar, Maryam, Syed, Hussein, Redmond, Desiree, Terveart, Jan Willem Cohen, Osman, Mohammed, et al. (2025). Upregulation of olfactory receptors and neuronal-associated genes highlights complex immune and neuronal dysregulation in Long COVID patients.. Brain, behavior, and immunity. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2024.11.032
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-shahbaz-2025-upregulation-olfactory,
author = {Shahbaz, Shima and Rezaeifar, Maryam and Syed, Hussein and Redmond, Desiree and Terveart, Jan Willem Cohen and Osman, Mohammed and Elahi, Shokrollah},
title = {Upregulation of olfactory receptors and neuronal-associated genes highlights complex immune and neuronal dysregulation in Long COVID patients.},
journal = {Brain, behavior, and immunity},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1016/j.bbi.2024.11.032},
note = {PubMed: 39615603},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/shahbaz-2025-upregulation-olfactory},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/shahbaz-2025-upregulation-olfactory
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.