Sjogren, Per, Bragée, Bjorn, Britton, Sven · Clinical therapeutics · 2024 · DOI
This study tested a treatment called subcutaneous immunoglobulin (a protein that helps the immune system) in 17 ME/CFS patients whose symptoms seemed to be triggered by infections. After 5 weeks of treatment, patients reported significant improvements in their symptoms, quality of life, and ability to work, with no serious side effects. One patient reported their ME/CFS symptoms disappeared completely.
This research provides preliminary evidence that immunoglobulin therapy may benefit a specific subset of ME/CFS patients—those with infection-related symptomatology—which could represent a step toward precision medicine approaches in this understudied disease. The findings support further investigation into immune-based treatments and suggest that not all ME/CFS patients are homogeneous in their treatment response.
This case series does not prove that immunoglobulin is an effective ME/CFS treatment for all patients; it only suggests potential benefit in patients with infection-driven symptoms. Without a control group or blinding, improvements could be partially attributed to placebo effect or natural disease fluctuation. The short 5-week timeframe does not establish whether benefits persist long-term.
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 →
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