Thambirajah, Anita A, Sleigh, Kenna, Stiver, H Grant et al. · Clinical and investigative medicine. Medecine clinique et experimentale · 2008 · DOI
This study looked at special protective proteins called heat shock proteins (HSPs) in the blood cells of ME/CFS patients and healthy people before and after exercise. The researchers found that ME/CFS patients had higher levels of these proteins at rest, but their levels dropped after exercise and stayed low for a week. In contrast, healthy people's HSP levels stayed stable or increased after exercise. This difference suggests ME/CFS patients may have trouble recovering from physical stress.
Heat shock proteins are crucial for cellular recovery and stress response. This study provides early evidence that ME/CFS patients may have a fundamentally different biological response to physical exertion, which could help explain why exercise worsens symptoms (post-exertional malaise) and why they don't recover normally. If HSP profiling is validated in larger studies, it could become an objective biomarker to help diagnose ME/CFS.
This study does not prove that abnormal HSP responses cause ME/CFS symptoms or post-exertional malaise; it only shows a correlation. The very small sample size (6 patients, 7 controls) means findings are preliminary and may not represent all ME/CFS patients. The study does not explain whether HSP abnormalities are a cause, consequence, or marker of the disease.
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
Thambirajah, Anita A, Sleigh, Kenna, Stiver, H Grant, & Chow, Anthony W (2008). Differential heat shock protein responses to strenuous standardized exercise in chronic fatigue syndrome patients and matched healthy controls.. Clinical and investigative medicine. Medecine clinique et experimentale. https://doi.org/10.25011/cim.v31i6.4917
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-thambirajah-2008-differential-heat,
author = {Thambirajah, Anita A and Sleigh, Kenna and Stiver, H Grant and Chow, Anthony W},
title = {Differential heat shock protein responses to strenuous standardized exercise in chronic fatigue syndrome patients and matched healthy controls.},
journal = {Clinical and investigative medicine. Medecine clinique et experimentale},
year = {2008},
doi = {10.25011/cim.v31i6.4917},
note = {PubMed: 19032901},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/thambirajah-2008-differential-heat},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/thambirajah-2008-differential-heat
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