Strawbridge, Rebecca, Sartor, Maria-Laura, Scott, Fraser et al. · Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2019 · DOI
This research review looked at 42 studies measuring inflammatory proteins (substances in the blood linked to inflammation) in people with ME/CFS compared to healthy people. The researchers found that people with ME/CFS had higher levels of five specific inflammatory proteins, but twelve other proteins were similar to healthy controls. This suggests that inflammation may play a role in ME/CFS for some patients, but it's likely not the main problem for everyone with the condition.
This is the first quantitative synthesis of inflammatory biomarkers across ME/CFS literature, providing objective evidence that immune dysfunction occurs in this disease. Understanding which inflammatory proteins are consistently elevated could help identify ME/CFS subgroups and guide future targeted treatment development.
This study does not establish that inflammation causes ME/CFS or is the primary driver of the disease in all patients. Elevated inflammatory proteins may be a consequence of other underlying dysfunction rather than a cause, and the variation across studies suggests biological heterogeneity that prevents one-size-fits-all conclusions about inflammation's role.
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
Strawbridge, Rebecca, Sartor, Maria-Laura, Scott, Fraser, & Cleare, Anthony J (2019). Inflammatory proteins are altered in chronic fatigue syndrome-A systematic review and meta-analysis.. Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.08.011
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-strawbridge-2019-inflammatory-proteins,
author = {Strawbridge, Rebecca and Sartor, Maria-Laura and Scott, Fraser and Cleare, Anthony J},
title = {Inflammatory proteins are altered in chronic fatigue syndrome-A systematic review and meta-analysis.},
journal = {Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.08.011},
note = {PubMed: 31465778},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/strawbridge-2019-inflammatory-proteins},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/strawbridge-2019-inflammatory-proteins
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