Krupp, L B, Pollina, D · Advances in neuroimmunology · 1996 · DOI
This review examined how the immune system and nervous system may both contribute to ME/CFS symptoms. The authors looked at evidence that ME/CFS involves both brain-based changes and immune system dysfunction, which could explain why patients experience fatigue, cognitive problems, and mood changes.
Understanding the neuroimmune basis of ME/CFS is crucial for developing targeted treatments. This work helped establish that ME/CFS involves real biological dysfunction in brain and immune systems, not psychiatric illness alone, which has important implications for how the disease is validated and treated.
This review does not prove causality—it synthesizes existing evidence and cannot establish which neuroimmune changes cause symptoms versus occur as consequences of illness. The study also does not present original experimental or clinical data, so findings depend entirely on the quality and interpretation of prior research.
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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