Simple blood test could provide first reliable diagnosis for ME

Times

20-06-2025

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.
A diagnosis is typically made by ­ruling out other illnesses, a process that can take years. The new study, led by ­researchers from Edinburgh University, may mark a turning point.
Using data from the UK Biobank, they compared blood samples from 1,455 ME patients with those of more than 131,000 healthy people and identified dozens of molecules that ­differed in concentrations between the two, as well as different cell counts.
The changes in the ME patients, who all had mild to moderate forms of the disease, were largely related to chronic inflammation, insulin resistance and liver dysfunction. The findings were replicated in a group of American patients and healthy controls.
Professor Chris Ponting, of the university's Institute of Genetics and Cancer, said: 'For so long people with ME/CFS have been told it's all in their head. It's not. We see [it] in their blood.
'Evidence of a large number of replicated and diverse blood biomarkers that differentiate between ME/CFS cases and controls should dispel any lingering perception it is caused by deconditioning and exercise intolerance.'
The study found 116 'biomarkers' for ME in the blood of men and women with the condition — a key finding, because ME can affect the sexes differently. These markers did not change according to how active the patients were, consistent with the view that graded exercise therapy, which aims to gradually increase activity levels, is unlikely to be helpful. The strongest differences were found in people who reported post-exertional malaise, which may underscore its central role in the illness.
Dr Sjoerd Beentjes, of the university's School of Mathematics, said: 'Blood differences are sometimes attributed to reduced activity levels rather than ME/CFS directly. Our study provides strong evidence ME/CFS affects blood traits through paths other than activity.'
The authors stressed that the research was at an early stage with no guarantees a test would be possible.
The government pledged last year to improve ME research and the NHS agreed to assess services for patients across England after an inquest into the death at 27 of Maeve Boothby O'Neill in 2021. She had suffered from ME since she was a teenager.
The daughter of Sarah Boothby and Sean O'Neill, a senior journalist at The Times, she was left bedbound, unable to speak and malnourished. The coroner issued a prevention of future deaths report in October, the first of its kind for ME, and urged Wes Streeting, the health secretary, NHS officials and health bodies to take action to address the 'non-existent' care and lack of funding for research.