Figure 1.

Single-cell transcriptomics of the ME/CFS immune system

(A) Study design. PBMCs were collected at BL and 24 h PC for sedentary controls and ME/CFS subjects and used for single-cell gene expression profiling (scRNA-seq).

(B) Demographic and clinical parameters for both cohorts. Oxygen consumption was measured during CPET. The change in maximal oxygen consumptions (VO₂ at peak) between the VO₂ peaks at BL and PC is indicated. Using the SF-36 Version 2 Health Survey, the general health score was self-evaluated, with 100 as perfect health and 0 as worst health. Graphs represent mean ± SEM. ∗∗p < 0.01, ∗∗∗ p < 0.001.

(C) Quality control metrics, showing genes and transcripts per cell (left and center, respectively) and percentage of mitochondrial reads per cell (right), compared between indicated cohorts.

(D) Integrated uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP). Clusters are labeled in order of decreasing number of cells.

(E) Relative expression of marker genes for immune cells (x axis) across clusters (y axis); dots indicate average expression and percentage of cells with detected expression (color and size, respectively).

(F) Cell types with significant differences in relative cell numbers between cohorts. ∗p < 0.05. Panels represent data from 28 healthy controls and 30 ME/CFS cases.