Impact of innate immunity in a subset of children with autism spectrum disorders: a case control study

Abstract

Background: Among patients with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) evaluated in our clinic, there appears to be a subset that can be clinically distinguished from other ASD children because of frequent infections (usually viral) accompanied by worsening behavioural symptoms and/or loss/decrease in acquired skills. This study assessed whether these clinical features of this ASD subset are associated with atopy, asthma, food allergy (FA), primary immunodeficiency (PID), or innate immune responses important in viral infections.

Maternal Immune Activation and Autism Spectrum Disorder: Interleukin-6 Signaling as a Key Mechanistic Pathway

“…Additionally, potentially more significant have been observations of autoimmune disorders in a subset of autistic patients, termed Autoimmune Autistic Disorder (AAD). These patients exhibit increased proinflammatory cytokines and other immunological disruptions in Th1/Th2 ratios as well as auto-antibodies to brain myelin basic protein, phenomenons researchers have contributed to increases in Th17 cells potentially precipitated by prenatal viral infection [67,71,72,152,153] . Equally interesting are observations made in FIRS, including altered expression of genes associated with this arm of the immune system, including MHC antigen presentation, and leukocyte adhesion and chemotaxis [58] .…”

Interleukin-1β/Interleukin10 Ratio Produced by Monocytes as a Biomarker of Neuroinflammation in Autism

“…These studies found that clinical features indicating immune abnormalities are unlikely to be associated with specific pathogens, but are more likely to be associated with dysregulated innate immune responses [14][15][16]. Others also reported that under the LPS stimulated cultures, increases in production of certain cytokines by PBMCs, are associated with ASD severity in a total of 50 young ASD subjects [17].…”

Co-occurrence of Autism and Asthma in a Nationally-Representative Sample of Children in the United States

“…These studies have produced conflicting results; two reporting no association, two reporting a positive association and one reporting a negative association. These studies have faced numerous limitations (Bakkaloglu et al 2008;Becker and Schultz 2010;Croen and Grether 2005;Jyonouchi et al 2008;Jyonouchi 2009Jyonouchi , 2010, including small sample sizes, insufficient power to detect a relationship, and limited control for potential confounding covariates. To address these limitations, we examined the association between autism and asthma using the National Survey of Children's Health 2007, a large nationally representative sample of children aged 0-18 years.…”