Wei, Heather, Adelsheim, Zoe, Fischer, Rita et al. · Journal of neuroimmunology · 2023 · DOI
This study found that blood serum from ME/CFS patients disrupts the internal 24-hour biological clock (circadian rhythm) in cells grown in the laboratory, compared to serum from healthy people. The disruption was linked to how severe patients' sleep problems were. While a protein called TGF-beta contributed to some rhythm changes, it didn't fully explain the effect, suggesting other unknown factors in ME/CFS patients' blood are responsible.
This research provides cellular-level evidence that ME/CFS patients have circadian rhythm disruption, potentially explaining the characteristic disrupted sleep, activity patterns, and daily symptom fluctuations. Identifying serum factors that damage circadian synchronization could lead to biomarkers for diagnosis and new therapeutic targets to restore normal daily rhythms.
This study does not prove that circadian disruption is the primary cause of ME/CFS—it shows an association in cells exposed to patient serum. It does not identify which specific serum factors (other than TGF-beta) are responsible for the observed effects. Results in mouse fibroblasts may not directly translate to human physiology or explain all circadian disturbances in living ME/CFS patients.
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 →
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.