Wohlrab, Felix, Eltity, Mailam, Ufer, Friederike et al. · Expert opinion on biological therapy · 2025 · DOI
This article reviews how certain immune system proteins called autoantibodies—which the body mistakenly makes against itself—may contribute to both long COVID and ME/CFS. The authors discuss different treatment approaches that aim to reduce or neutralize these harmful autoantibodies. This editorial examines the current evidence and potential of these new therapies to help patients with these conditions.
This editorial is timely given emerging evidence that autoimmune mechanisms may underlie both post-COVID syndrome and ME/CFS. For patients, it highlights promising new treatment avenues that could move beyond symptom management. For researchers, it frames autoantibody-targeting as a potentially transformative therapeutic direction for these debilitating conditions.
As an editorial, this is expert opinion rather than new evidence. It does not present original data, clinical trial results, or systematic evidence synthesis. Therefore, it cannot prove efficacy of any specific therapy, establish causation of autoantibodies in disease pathogenesis, or provide definitive treatment recommendations.
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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