Sun, Yuanjie, Koyama, Yoshihisa, Shimada, Shoichi · Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2022 · DOI
This review explores how inflammation in the body's organs—like the gut, lungs, or joints—can trigger inflammation in the brain. The authors describe several pathways by which this happens, including damage to the protective barrier around the brain, activation of immune cells in the brain, and communication through nerves connecting organs to the brain. ME/CFS is highlighted as one disease where this peripheral-to-brain inflammation mechanism may be important.
ME/CFS is explicitly identified as a condition where peripheral inflammation may drive brain inflammation, a potential mechanism underlying symptoms like cognitive dysfunction and neurological complications. Understanding these pathways could lead to therapeutic targets aimed at interrupting the communication between peripheral inflammation and the brain. This framework helps explain why treating only peripheral symptoms may be insufficient if neuroinflammation is a primary driver of ME/CFS.
This review does not provide empirical evidence that peripheral inflammation actually causes neuroinflammation in ME/CFS patients specifically—it describes plausible mechanisms identified in other diseases. The study does not establish which of these pathways (BBB disruption, glial activation, or autonomic signaling) is most important in ME/CFS. It cannot prove causation, only propose mechanistic frameworks based on existing literature.
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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Primary citation
Sun, Yuanjie, Koyama, Yoshihisa, & Shimada, Shoichi (2022). Inflammation From Peripheral Organs to the Brain: How Does Systemic Inflammation Cause Neuroinflammation?. Frontiers in aging neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2022.903455
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-sun-2022-inflammation-peripheral,
author = {Sun, Yuanjie and Koyama, Yoshihisa and Shimada, Shoichi},
title = {Inflammation From Peripheral Organs to the Brain: How Does Systemic Inflammation Cause Neuroinflammation?},
journal = {Frontiers in aging neuroscience},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.3389/fnagi.2022.903455},
note = {PubMed: 35783147},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/sun-2022-inflammation-peripheral},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/sun-2022-inflammation-peripheral
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