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Microbes & Immunity Microbial involvement in ME/CFS

Table 1. Recent studies on gut microbiota dysbiosis of patients with ME/CFS compared to healthy controls
Study/Country Characteristics Increased microbial taxa Decreased microbial taxa
Shukla et al. /USA N=10 ME/CFS and N=10 HC. Age: 20 – 60 Blood: Pseudomonadota and Bacillota. Stool: Blood: Bacteroidota. Stool:
40
years. Blood and stool samples. 16S rRNA. Bacteroidota Actinomycetota and Bacillota
Pyrosequencing
Armstrong et al. / N=34 ME/CFS and N=25 HC. Mean age: Clostridium Bacteroides
41
Australia 34.9 years ME/CFS and 33.0 years HC.
Stool samples. Culture method. MALDI-
TOF
Giloteaux et al. /USA N=46 ME/CFS and N=34 HC. Stool Pseudomonadota Faecalibacterium and
42
samples. 16S rRNA. Illumina MiSeq Bifidobacterium
Nagy-Szakal et al. /USA N=50 ME/CFS (21 with IBS and 29 without Alistipes in patients with IBS and unclassified Faecalibacterium in patients
8
IBS) and N=50 HC (without IBS). Mean Bacteroides in patients without IBS with IBS and Phocaeicola
age: 51 years. Stool samples. Shotgun (formerly Bacteroides)
metagenomic sequencing. Illumina HiSeq vulgatus in patients without
4000 IBS
Mandarano et al. /USA N=49 ME/CFS and N=39 HC Basidiomycota/Ascomycota fungal phyla ratio Gut eukaryotic diversity
43
Mean age: 53.0 years ME/CFS and 44.0
years HC. Stool samples. 18S rRNA.
Illumina MiSeq
Kitami et al. /Japan N=48 ME/CFS (11 with IBS) and N=52 HC. Blautia, Coprobacillus, and Eggerthella Faecalibacterium
44
Stool samples. 16S rRNA. Illumina MiSeq
Lupo et al. /Italy N=35 ME/CFS and N=70 HC Stool: Bacteroides and Phascolarctobacterium. Stool: Anaerostipes
5
Mean age: 46.4 years ME/CFS and Oral: Rothia dentocariosa and R. mucilaginosa
55.2 years HC. Stool and saliva samples.
16S rRNA. Illumina MiSeq
Guo et al. /USA N=106 ME/CFS (without IBS) and N=91 Blautia sp., Clostridium scindens, Coprobacter secundus,
45
HC. Mean age: 47.4 years. Stool samples. Enterocloster (formerly Clostridium) Eubacterium rectal, and
Shotgun metagenomic sequencing. bolteae, Erysipelotoclostridium ramosum, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii
Illumina MiSeq Lachnoclostridium sp., Ruminococcus gnavus,
Ruthenibacterium lactatiformans, Sellimonas
intestinalis, and Tyzzerella nexilis
He et al. /China UK Biobank GWAS: N=2076 ME/CFS Paraprevotella and Ruminococcaceae_UCG_014 Not established
46
and N=460857 HC. Mendelian study of
25 cohorts from populations of European
ethnicity in 11 countries
Xiong et al. /USA N=75 short-term ME/CFS, N=79 Short-term patients showed significant Microbial diversity:
47
long-term ME/CFS, and N=79 HC. Mean microbial dysbiosis, while long-term patients Roseburia and F. prausnitzii
age: 43 years. Stool samples. Shotgun had largely resolved microbial dysbiosis
metagenomic sequencing
Abbreviations: IBS: Irritable bowel syndrome; HC: Healthy control; MALDI-TOF: Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight;
ME/CFS: Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.

Figure 1. Hypothetical pathways on the relationship between gut microbiome and ME/CFS
Abbreviation: ME/CFS: Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.

Volume 2 Issue 1 (2025) 20 doi: 10.36922/mi.4783