Smylie, Anne Liese, Broderick, Gordon, Fernandes, Henrique et al. · BMC immunology · 2013 · DOI
This study compared immune system markers in blood samples from Gulf War veterans with illness, people with ME/CFS, and healthy controls. Researchers measured immune chemicals (called cytokines) before, during, and after exercise to see if different patterns could identify each group. They found distinct immune fingerprints for each condition, and importantly, these patterns differed between men and women.
This research provides biological evidence that ME/CFS involves measurable immune dysfunction, potentially validating the condition's physiological basis. The discovery of sex-specific immune patterns suggests why men and women may experience different symptom presentations and responses to exercise, informing more personalized clinical approaches.
This study does not establish causation—immune pattern abnormalities may be consequences rather than causes of illness. The findings are associative and describe what distinguishes patient groups from controls at a single timepoint, not mechanisms of disease development. Results cannot be generalized beyond the tested populations without larger, prospective studies.
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
Smylie, Anne Liese, Broderick, Gordon, Fernandes, Henrique, Razdan, Shirin, Barnes, Zachary, Collado, Fanny, et al. (2013). A comparison of sex-specific immune signatures in Gulf War illness and chronic fatigue syndrome.. BMC immunology. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2172-14-29
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-smylie-2013-comparison-sex,
author = {Smylie, Anne Liese and Broderick, Gordon and Fernandes, Henrique and Razdan, Shirin and Barnes, Zachary and Collado, Fanny and Sol, Connie and Fletcher, Mary Ann and Klimas, Nancy},
title = {A comparison of sex-specific immune signatures in Gulf War illness and chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {BMC immunology},
year = {2013},
doi = {10.1186/1471-2172-14-29},
note = {PubMed: 23800166},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/smylie-2013-comparison-sex},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/smylie-2013-comparison-sex
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