Abstract
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a neuroinflammatory, multifaceted chronic disorder of unknown cause. Accumulating data indicates a link between a redox imbalance, mitochondrial dysfunction, and inflammation status in ME/CFS. CoQ10 and selenium as effective antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents have shown potential clinical implications in chronic diseases; however, their therapeutic benefits on ME/CFS remain elusive. This open-label exploratory study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of combined CoQ10 plus selenium supplementation on clinical features and circulating biomarkers in ME/CFS. Twenty-seven ME/CFS patients received an oral combination of 400 mg of CoQ10 and 200 µg of selenium daily for 8-weeks. The primary endpoint was patient-reported changes in outcome measures from baseline to 8 weeks post-intervention. Secondary endpoint included changes in circulating biomarkers from baseline to each participant. After an 8-week intervention, a significant improvement was found for overall fatigue severity (p = 0.021) and global quality of life (p = 0.002), while there was no significant effect on the sleep disturbances (p = 0.480) among participants. After 8-weeks' intervention, there was significantly increased total antioxidant capacity, and there were reduced lipoperoxides levels from the participants (p < 0.0001 for both). Circulating cytokine levels decreased significantly (p < 0.01 for all), but with no significant changes on the CRP, FGF21, and NT-proBNP biomarkers after supplementation. Based on these findings, we hypothesized that long-term supplementation of combined CoQ10 and selenium may indicate a potentially beneficial synergistic effect in ME/CFS.
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