The chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a condition of unknown etiology, characterized by an extreme fatigue that is exacerbated by minimal physical activity. Immunological abonormality is prevalent in patients with CFS (e. g. abnormal functions of natural killer cell, macrophage, and lymphocyte) . However, in our knowledge, no study has been reported about neutrophil function, so that we have investigated a neutrophil bactericidal function, luminol-dependent chemiluminescence (L-DCL), in a 24-years old female with CFS. L-DCL under whole blood condition was apparently increased, while L-DCL from separated neutrophils was in normal range. A combination therapy with vitamin C, vitamin E, and eicosapentanoic acid, those are known to be antioxidant drugs and to inhibit a generation of oxygen derived free radicals from neutrophils, apparently improved her symptoms and L-DCL under whole blood condition. These data suggest that symptoms of CFS may be partially caused by inflammatory mediators such as oxygen derived free radicals and the combination therapy may be useful to improve the symptoms of CFS. It may be possible that the measurement of neutrophil bactericidal function is available to evaluate the condition of CFS.
