Plasma cytokine expression in adolescent chronic fatigue syndrome.
Wyller, Vegard Bruun, Sørensen, Øystein, Sulheim, Dag et al.·Brain, behavior, and immunity·2015
This study measured inflammation markers called cytokines in the blood of 120 adolescents with ME/CFS and compared them to 68 healthy young people. Despite CFS patients reporting significantly more fatigue and symptoms suggesting inflammation, the researchers found no differences in cytokine levels or inflammation patterns between the two groups. This suggests that the fatigue and symptoms in adolescent ME/CFS may not be caused by the type of low-grade inflammation in the blood that researchers had previously suspected.