Jabes, Daniela L, de Maria, Yara N L F, Aciole Barbosa, David et al. · Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020 · DOI
This study looked at how fungi (different from bacteria) in the gut change when cancer causes severe weight loss and muscle wasting called cachexia. Researchers compared mice with cancer-induced cachexia to healthy mice and found significant differences in their fungal populations. Interestingly, some of these fungal changes are similar to those seen in other conditions, including ME/CFS, suggesting a common gut-related mechanism across different diseases.
This study identifies shared fungal dysbiosis patterns between cancer cachexia and ME/CFS, suggesting the gut mycobiota may play a role in symptom development across these conditions. Understanding these fungal changes could lead to new dietary or probiotic interventions for ME/CFS patients experiencing weight loss, malaise, and metabolic dysfunction. The identification of Rhyzopus oryzae as a potential therapeutic agent provides a concrete target for future research in ME/CFS cachexia-like symptoms.
This study does not prove that fungal dysbiosis causes cachexia or ME/CFS—it only shows correlation in a mouse model. The findings cannot be assumed to apply directly to humans without human studies. Additionally, demonstrating shared dysbiosis patterns across diseases does not establish that the same fungal changes drive the same mechanisms or symptoms in each condition.
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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