Association between neuroimmunological indicators and autism spectrum disorders / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To explore the relationship among osteopontin(OPN), Interleukin-17A(IL-17A), anti-MBP auto-antibody and autism spectrum disorder(ASD), and to provide the theoretical basis for the etiology and pathogenesis of ASD.@*Methods@#Forty autistic children and forty matched healthy children were enrolled in this case-control study. The levels of OPN, IL-17A, anti-MBP autoantibody in serum were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The associations between those metabolic levels and the severity and intelligence of ASD children were performed by Pearson or Spearman correlation.@*Results@#Children with ASD had higher serum levels of OPN, IL-17A [(296.89±162.95),0.93] pg/mL compared to healthy control[(217.98±113.39), 0.62] pg/mL(P<0.05). Serum OPN, IL-17A, and anti-MBP auto-antibody levels in ASD group were not correlated with the scores of ABC, CARS, and PPVT(P>0.05). However, anti-MBP auto-antibodies level in children with ASD were positively correlated with OPN and IL-17A levels, respectively(r=0.35, 0.34, P<0.05).@*Conclusion@#It was obvious that the ASD children were found with neuroimmunologic abnormality, and the underlying mechanism needs to be further explored.