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Cytokine levels and associations with symptom severity in male and female children with autism spectrum disorder

BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are complex, pervasive, and heterogeneous neurodevelopmental conditions with varying trajectories, significant male bias and largely unknown etiology. However, an understanding of the biological mechanisms driving pathophysiology is evolving. Immune syste...

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Autores principales: Masi, Anne, Breen, Edmond J., Alvares, Gail A., Glozier, Nicholas, Hickie, Ian B., Hunt, Anna, Hui, Jennie, Beilby, John, Ravine, David, Wray, John, Whitehouse, Andrew J. O., Guastella, Adam J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5712192/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29214007
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13229-017-0176-2
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author Masi, Anne
Breen, Edmond J.
Alvares, Gail A.
Glozier, Nicholas
Hickie, Ian B.
Hunt, Anna
Hui, Jennie
Beilby, John
Ravine, David
Wray, John
Whitehouse, Andrew J. O.
Guastella, Adam J.
author_facet Masi, Anne
Breen, Edmond J.
Alvares, Gail A.
Glozier, Nicholas
Hickie, Ian B.
Hunt, Anna
Hui, Jennie
Beilby, John
Ravine, David
Wray, John
Whitehouse, Andrew J. O.
Guastella, Adam J.
author_sort Masi, Anne
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are complex, pervasive, and heterogeneous neurodevelopmental conditions with varying trajectories, significant male bias and largely unknown etiology. However, an understanding of the biological mechanisms driving pathophysiology is evolving. Immune system aberrations, as identified through cytokine profiles, are believed to have a role in ASD. Altered cytokine levels may facilitate identification of ASD subtypes as well as provide biological markers of response to effective treatments. Research exploring the relationship between cytokine profiles and ASD symptoms is, however, in its infancy. The objective of this study was to explore relationships between cytokine levels and the severity of ASD and other clinical traits. METHODS: Multiplex assay techniques were used to measure levels of 27 cytokines in plasma samples from a cohort of 144 children diagnosed with ASD. RESULTS: Overall, results showed a significant negative association between platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-BB, and the severity of ASD symptoms. Furthermore, a significant interaction with sex suggested a different immune profile for females compared to males. ASD symptom severity was negatively associated with levels of 4 cytokines, IL-1β, IL-8, MIP-1β, and VEGF, in females, but not in males. CONCLUSIONS: Results of the present study suggest that an altered cytokine response or profile is associated with the severity of ASD-related symptoms, with sex a potential modifier of this relationship. Further research in larger populations which recognizes the importance of sex comparisons and longitudinal assessments are now required to extend and further describe the role of the immune system in ASD. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13229-017-0176-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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spelling pubmed-57121922017-12-06 Cytokine levels and associations with symptom severity in male and female children with autism spectrum disorder Masi, Anne Breen, Edmond J. Alvares, Gail A. Glozier, Nicholas Hickie, Ian B. Hunt, Anna Hui, Jennie Beilby, John Ravine, David Wray, John Whitehouse, Andrew J. O. Guastella, Adam J. Mol Autism Research BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are complex, pervasive, and heterogeneous neurodevelopmental conditions with varying trajectories, significant male bias and largely unknown etiology. However, an understanding of the biological mechanisms driving pathophysiology is evolving. Immune system aberrations, as identified through cytokine profiles, are believed to have a role in ASD. Altered cytokine levels may facilitate identification of ASD subtypes as well as provide biological markers of response to effective treatments. Research exploring the relationship between cytokine profiles and ASD symptoms is, however, in its infancy. The objective of this study was to explore relationships between cytokine levels and the severity of ASD and other clinical traits. METHODS: Multiplex assay techniques were used to measure levels of 27 cytokines in plasma samples from a cohort of 144 children diagnosed with ASD. RESULTS: Overall, results showed a significant negative association between platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-BB, and the severity of ASD symptoms. Furthermore, a significant interaction with sex suggested a different immune profile for females compared to males. ASD symptom severity was negatively associated with levels of 4 cytokines, IL-1β, IL-8, MIP-1β, and VEGF, in females, but not in males. CONCLUSIONS: Results of the present study suggest that an altered cytokine response or profile is associated with the severity of ASD-related symptoms, with sex a potential modifier of this relationship. Further research in larger populations which recognizes the importance of sex comparisons and longitudinal assessments are now required to extend and further describe the role of the immune system in ASD. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13229-017-0176-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. BioMed Central 2017-12-02 /pmc/articles/PMC5712192/ /pubmed/29214007 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13229-017-0176-2 Text en © The Author(s). 2017 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research
Masi, Anne
Breen, Edmond J.
Alvares, Gail A.
Glozier, Nicholas
Hickie, Ian B.
Hunt, Anna
Hui, Jennie
Beilby, John
Ravine, David
Wray, John
Whitehouse, Andrew J. O.
Guastella, Adam J.
Cytokine levels and associations with symptom severity in male and female children with autism spectrum disorder
title Cytokine levels and associations with symptom severity in male and female children with autism spectrum disorder
title_full Cytokine levels and associations with symptom severity in male and female children with autism spectrum disorder
title_fullStr Cytokine levels and associations with symptom severity in male and female children with autism spectrum disorder
title_full_unstemmed Cytokine levels and associations with symptom severity in male and female children with autism spectrum disorder
title_short Cytokine levels and associations with symptom severity in male and female children with autism spectrum disorder
title_sort cytokine levels and associations with symptom severity in male and female children with autism spectrum disorder
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5712192/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29214007
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13229-017-0176-2
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