Sotzny, Franziska, Filgueiras, Igor Salerno, Kedor, Claudia et al. · Frontiers in immunology · 2022 · DOI
This study looked at whether certain antibodies in the blood—proteins the immune system makes that sometimes attack the body's own tissues—might explain why some people with long COVID develop ME/CFS symptoms like severe fatigue and blood flow problems. Researchers compared antibody levels in 80 patients with long COVID (40 with ME/CFS) against healthy people and found that patients had different patterns of these antibodies, particularly ones affecting blood vessels and the nervous system. The severity of fatigue and blood pressure/temperature regulation problems seemed connected to lower levels of a specific antibody (ADRB2), suggesting the immune system's dysregulation may play a role in these symptoms.
Understanding the immune mechanisms underlying ME/CFS is critical since the disease remains poorly understood and many patients lack objective biomarkers for diagnosis. This study provides evidence that dysregulated antibodies targeting autonomic nervous system and vascular control receptors may contribute to ME/CFS symptoms, potentially opening new avenues for diagnostic testing and targeted therapies. The findings help validate that ME/CFS has biological underpinnings rather than being purely psychological.
This study does not prove that these autoantibodies cause ME/CFS symptoms—it only shows correlations, and correlation does not equal causation. The cross-sectional design prevents determination of whether antibody dysregulation precedes, follows, or is independent of symptom onset. The study also does not establish whether these antibodies are specific to ME/CFS or whether they functionally impair receptor signaling in patients' tissues.
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
Sotzny, Franziska, Filgueiras, Igor Salerno, Kedor, Claudia, Freitag, Helma, Wittke, Kirsten, Bauer, Sandra, et al. (2022). Dysregulated autoantibodies targeting vaso- and immunoregulatory receptors in Post COVID Syndrome correlate with symptom severity.. Frontiers in immunology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.981532
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-sotzny-2022-dysregulated-autoantibodies,
author = {Sotzny, Franziska and Filgueiras, Igor Salerno and Kedor, Claudia and Freitag, Helma and Wittke, Kirsten and Bauer, Sandra and Sepúlveda, Nuno and Mathias da Fonseca, Dennyson Leandro and Baiocchi, Gabriela Crispim and Marques, Alexandre H C and Kim, Myungjin and Lange, Tanja and Plaça, Desirée Rodrigues and Luebber, Finn and Paulus, Frieder M and De Vito, Roberta and Jurisica, Igor and Schulze-Forster, Kai and Paul, Friedemann and Bellmann-Strobl, Judith and Rust, Rebekka and Hoppmann, Uta and Shoenfeld, Yehuda and Riemekasten, Gabriela and Heidecke, Harald and Cabral-Marques, Otavio and Scheibenbogen, Carmen},
title = {Dysregulated autoantibodies targeting vaso- and immunoregulatory receptors in Post COVID Syndrome correlate with symptom severity.},
journal = {Frontiers in immunology},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.3389/fimmu.2022.981532},
note = {PubMed: 36238301},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/sotzny-2022-dysregulated-autoantibodies},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/sotzny-2022-dysregulated-autoantibodies
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.