Failure of Rituximab for Managing Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

A decade ago, several Norwegian oncologists cared for a few patients with malignancies that were preceded by long-standing myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS; the now-preferred name for chronic fatigue syndrome); one previous large study showed that people with ME/CFS develop B-cell lymphomas more frequently than the general population. When these ME/CFS patients received cytotoxic chemotherapy or rituximab, a monoclonal antibody that targets B cells, symptoms associated with ME/CFS improved remarkably. Several small subsequent studies also have suggested a ME/CFS benefit with rituximab.

The Norwegian team now reports the results of a randomized, double-blind multicenter trial that involved 151 ME/CFS patients. Rituxi…