The Times reports on a research paper published on the 19th June – Replicated blood-based biomarkers for myalgic encephalomyelitis not explicable by inactivity (Ponting et al 2025) – that has found biological signatures in the blood of people with ME/CFS.
Extracts
Scientists have found biological signatures in the blood of people with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), a breakthrough that could lead to the first reliable test for the debilitating condition.
ME, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), affects an estimated 400,000 people in the UK. Symptoms can include pain, brain fog and extremely low energy levels that do not improve with rest. These often become dramatically worse after even minor physical effort, a phenomenon known as post-exertional malaise. There is no cure and the cause is unknown.
MEA Comment
As already noted when we reported on this University of Edinburgh research back in August 2024 these are interesting results that add to our knowledge about abnormalities in blood based markers for inflammation, insulin resistance, liver function etc that appear to be more common in people with ME/CFS than in healthy people. Another important finding is that these abnormalities cannot simply be explained by decreased physical activity.
However, these individual abnormalities are not unique to people with ME/CFS and can be found in many other medical conditions. So individually they do not constitute a diagnostic blood test for ME/CFS. As a cluster, there is a possibility that this could be used to aid the assessment and diagnosis of ME/CFS.
It's also important to note that a blood-based diagnostic biomarker for any medical condition has to be both sensitive (ie it is positive in a very high proportion of people with the condition – preferably 100%) and specific (ie it is not present in any other conditions where there are symptom overlaps).
To take this research forward it would be helpful to see if these results can be replicated in blood samples from the ME biobank – where we have cohorts of people with all severities of ME/CFS, including severe, multiple sclerosis and healthy controls. The ME/CFS patient cohort have also had a very thorough clinical assessment to make sure that they do have ME/CFS.
In the meantime there is quite a lot of research taking place around the world to try and find a unique blood based diagnostic biomarker for ME/CFS – including two studies at the Universities of Oxford and Surrey that are being funded by the MEA Ramsay Research Fund.
Dr Charles Shepherd,
Trustee and Hon. Medical Adviser to the ME Association,
Member of the 2018-2021 NICE guideline on ME/CFS committee,
Member of the 2002 Chief Medical Officer's Working Group on ME/CFS
Further information
- The ME Association: Research: Replicated blood-based biomarkers for ME/CFS not explained by inactivity (Preprint) | August 29, 2024
- BBC News: Chronic fatigue is not in your head, it's in your blood – experts (N.B. BBC News title) | June 20, 2025
- Science Media Centre: Expert reaction to observational study of blood biomarkers in ME/CFS patients | June 20, 2025
- Independent: A simple blood test could offer first reliable diagnosis for ME | June 20, 2025
- Medical Xpress: Scale of how chronic fatigue syndrome affects patients' blood shown for first time | June 20, 2025
- University of Edinburgh: Scale of how ME/CFS affects blood revealed | June 20, 2025
- Pharmacy Business: Experts say chronic fatigue is rooted in the body not the mind | June 20, 2025
- Technology Networks: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study Uncovers Hidden Biological Signs | June 23, 2025
- Trial by Error: Edinburgh Study Links ME/CFS to “Blood-Based Biomarkers” | June 21, 2025