Fig. 3

Measurement of circulating inflammatory cytokine/chemokine biomarkers in the study participants. Box plot analysis of twelve inflammatory cytokines/chemokines at baseline were assayed in serum from individuals with ME/CFS and long COVID and compared with matched sedentary healthy controls, as described in the Methods section (panel A-L). Each dot represents a single participant in each group. Values are shown as mean ± SEM of duplicates and are representative of two independent experiments. The box extends from the 25th to 75th percentiles, the line represents the mean, and the whiskers indicate the minimum and maximum values within SEM. Comparisons between cohorts were analyzed using the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn’s post-hoc multiple comparison test. Significance level was set at *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001