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Table 3 Similarities in immunoinflammatory pathways between encephalomyelitis disseminata/multiple sclerosis (ED/MS) and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)

From: Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and encephalomyelitis disseminata/multiple sclerosis show remarkable levels of similarity in phenomenology and neuroimmune characteristics

Immunoinflammatory pathways

ED/MS

ME/CFS

Raised levels of proinflammatory cytokines, for example, interleukin (IL) 1 and tumor necrosis factor-α

✓

✓

Increased nuclear factor κB

✓

✓

Increased cyclo-oxygenase 2

✓

✓

Raised IL-2

✓

✓

Raised IL-10

✓

✓

Raised transforming growth factor β

✓

✓

Coexistence of a T helper (Th)1 and Th2 response

✓

✓

Elevated osteopontin levels

✓

✓

Temporal variation in cytokine profile

✓

✓

Elevated neopterin

✓

✓

T regulatory (Treg) dysfunction

✓

✓

Forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) dysfunction

✓

✓

Clonal exhaustion of T cells

✓

✓

Elevated CD26

✓

✓

CD69 expression

↑

↓

Low natural killer cell activity

✓

✓

Chronic activation of immunoinflammatory pathways

✓

✓