ReviewBMC medicine2013
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and encephalomyelitis disseminata/multiple sclerosis show remarkable levels of similarity in phenomenology and neuroimmune characteristics.
Review in BMC medicine, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 71 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
71 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 155 citations in OpenAlex.
- Endotheliopathy in Acute COVID-19 and Long COVID.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Post-stroke fatigue as an indicator of underlying bioenergetics alterations.Journal of bioenergetics and biomembranes · 2019Trial
- Trial
- Human Endogenous Retroviruses in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Emerging Roles in Pathogenesis, Immunity, Biomarkers and Therapeutics.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Molecular Mimicry Between Epstein-Barr Virus and Human Herpesvirus-6 Proteins and Central Nervous System Proteins: Implications for T and B Cell Immunogenicity in an In Silico Study.Immunity, inflammation and disease · 2026Article
- The NLRP3 inflammasome as a key pathway in the affective and chronic fatigue symptoms of Long COVID.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Article
- Comparable Immune Alterations and Inflammatory Signatures in ME/CFS and Long COVID.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- Glymphatic System Dysregulation as a Key Contributor to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Brain-targeted autoimmunity is strongly associated with Long COVID and its chronic fatigue syndrome as well as its affective symptoms.Journal of advanced research · 2025Article
- HERV Dysregulation in a Case of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Multiple Sclerosis Responsive to Rituximab.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Cognitive Dysfunction in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome-Aetiology and Potential Treatments.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- A network medicine approach to investigating ME/CFS pathogenesis in severely ill patients: a pilot study.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Article
- Kynurenines and Inflammation: A Remarkable Axis for Multiple Sclerosis Treatment.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- A Prospective Study on Neural Biomarkers in Patients with Long-COVID Symptoms.Journal of personalized medicine · 2024Article
- Catalytic Antibodies May Contribute to Demyelination in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.Biochemistry · 2024Article
- Mood Symptoms and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Due to Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis Are Associated with Immune Activation and Aberrations in the Erythron.Brain sciences · 2023Article
- Article
- Association of multiple sclerosis with chronic fatigue syndrome, restless legs syndrome, and various sleep disorders, along with the recent updates.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2023Article
- Chronic Fatigue, Depression and Anxiety Symptoms in Long COVID Are Strongly Predicted by Neuroimmune and Neuro-Oxidative Pathways Which Are Caused by the Inflammation during Acute Infection.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Post-exertional malaise in daily life and experimental exercise models in patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.Frontiers in physiology · 2023Article
11 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
background'Encephalomyelitis disseminata' (multiple sclerosis) and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) are both classified as diseases of the central nervous system by the World Health Organization. This review aims to compare the phenomenological and neuroimmune characteristics of MS with those of ME/CFS. DISCUSSION: There are remarkable phenomenological and neuroimmune overlaps between both disorders. Patients with ME/CFS and MS both experience severe levels of disabling fatigue and a worsening of symptoms following exercise and resort to energy conservation strategies in an attempt to meet the energy demands of day-to-day living. Debilitating autonomic symptoms, diminished cardiac responses to exercise, orthostatic intolerance and postural hypotension are experienced by patients with both illnesses. Both disorders show a relapsing-remitting or progressive course, while infections and psychosocial stress play a large part in worsening of fatigue symptoms. Activated immunoinflammatory, oxidative and nitrosative (O+NS) pathways and autoimmunity occur in both illnesses. The consequences of O+NS damage to self-epitopes is evidenced by the almost bewildering and almost identical array of autoantibodies formed against damaged epitopes seen in both illnesses. Mitochondrial dysfunctions, including lowered levels of ATP, decreased phosphocreatine synthesis and impaired oxidative phosphorylation, are heavily involved in the pathophysiology of both MS and ME/CFS. The findings produced by neuroimaging techniques are quite similar in both illnesses and show decreased cerebral blood flow, atrophy, gray matter reduction, white matter hyperintensities, increased cerebral lactate and choline signaling and lowered acetyl-aspartate levels. SUMMARY: This review shows that there are neuroimmune similarities between MS and ME/CFS. This further substantiates the view that ME/CFS is a neuroimmune illness and that patients with MS are immunologically primed to develop symptoms of ME/CFS.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.