Tomas, Cara, Brown, Audrey, Strassheim, Victoria et al. · PloS one · 2017 · DOI
This study examined how cells in ME/CFS patients produce energy differently than in healthy people. Researchers tested immune cells from patients and found that when these cells are under stress, they cannot ramp up their energy production as much as healthy cells can. This suggests that ME/CFS patients' cells may struggle to meet energy demands, especially during periods of physical or mental exertion.
This study provides mechanistic evidence that ME/CFS involves quantifiable cellular energy production defects, moving beyond subjective symptom reporting to objective biological markers. Understanding mitochondrial dysfunction in ME/CFS may inform future therapeutic targets and biomarker development for diagnosis and monitoring of disease progression.
This study does not prove that mitochondrial dysfunction is the sole cause of ME/CFS—only that it is associated with the disease in blood cells. It does not establish whether these bioenergetic abnormalities are primary (causing the disease) or secondary (resulting from it). The findings in PBMCs may not fully represent mitochondrial function in other tissues affected by ME/CFS.
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
Tomas, Cara, Brown, Audrey, Strassheim, Victoria, Elson, Joanna L, Newton, Julia, & Manning, Philip (2017). Cellular bioenergetics is impaired in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.. PloS one. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186802
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-tomas-2017-cellular-bioenergetics,
author = {Tomas, Cara and Brown, Audrey and Strassheim, Victoria and Elson, Joanna L and Newton, Julia and Manning, Philip},
title = {Cellular bioenergetics is impaired in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {PloS one},
year = {2017},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0186802},
note = {PubMed: 29065167},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/tomas-2017-cellular-bioenergetics},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-25. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/tomas-2017-cellular-bioenergetics
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