Skowera, A, Cleare, A, Blair, D et al. · Clinical and experimental immunology · 2004 · DOI
This study looked at immune cells in the blood of ME/CFS patients to see if they respond differently than in healthy people. Researchers found that ME/CFS patients had higher levels of immune cells that produce type 2 cytokines—signaling molecules associated with a particular type of immune response. This suggests the immune system in ME/CFS may be stuck in an unusual activation pattern.
Understanding the immune profile in ME/CFS could help explain why patients feel persistently unwell and may guide development of targeted immune therapies. This work contributes to the growing evidence that ME/CFS involves measurable biological immune dysfunction, not just fatigue symptoms, potentially validating patient experiences and informing future treatment strategies.
This study does not establish whether the observed immune pattern causes ME/CFS symptoms or results from the disease process. It is a cross-sectional snapshot and cannot determine causality, temporal relationships, or whether normalizing this immune pattern would improve symptoms. The findings also do not explain why this particular immune bias occurs or what triggers it.
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
Skowera, A, Cleare, A, Blair, D, Bevis, L, Wessely, S C, & Peakman, M (2004). High levels of type 2 cytokine-producing cells in chronic fatigue syndrome.. Clinical and experimental immunology. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2249.2004.02354.x
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-skowera-2004-high-levels,
author = {Skowera, A and Cleare, A and Blair, D and Bevis, L and Wessely, S C and Peakman, M},
title = {High levels of type 2 cytokine-producing cells in chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Clinical and experimental immunology},
year = {2004},
doi = {10.1111/j.1365-2249.2004.02354.x},
note = {PubMed: 14738459},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/skowera-2004-high-levels},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-27. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/skowera-2004-high-levels
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