Highlights
- •The seropositivity of anti-ds-DNA and/or ANA in autistic children was 42%.
- •Family history of autoimmunity had a significant positive association to anti-ds-DNA.
- •Autoimmunity to CNS may have a role in the pathogenesis of autism in some patients.
Abstract
Autoimmunity to central nervous system may have a role in the pathogenesis of autism.
A subset of anti-ds-DNA antibodies has been recently proved to be pathogenic to the
brain as well as to the kidney. Due to the paucity of studies investigating the frequency
of systemic auto-antibodies in autism, we are the first to investigate the frequency
of anti-ds-DNA antibodies in a group of autistic children. The seropositivity of anti-nuclear
antibodies (ANA) was also investigated. Serum anti-ds-DNA antibodies and ANA were
measured in 100 autistic children, aged between 4 and 11 years, in comparison to 100 healthy-matched children. The seropositivity of anti-ds-DNA
antibodies and ANA in autistic children was 34% and 25%, respectively. In addition,
42% of autistic children were seropositive for anti-ds-DNA antibodies and/or ANA.
The frequencies of anti-ds-DNA antibodies and ANA in autistic children were significantly
higher than that in healthy children (4% and 2%, respectively), (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively). Autistic children with a family history of autoimmunity (45%)
had significantly higher frequency of serum anti-ds-DNA antibodies (48.9%) than patients
without such a history (21.8%), P = 0.008. There was a significant positive association between the seropositivity of
anti-ds-DNA antibodies and ANA (P < 0.001). In conclusion, anti-ds-DNA antibodies and ANA were found in the sera of a
subgroup of autistic children. However, replication studies of larger samples are
warranted to validate whether these antibodies are a mere association or have a pathogenic
role in some autistic children.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Journal of NeuroimmunologyAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- A lack of association between elevated serum levels of S100B protein and autoimmunity in autistic children.J. Neuroinflammation. 2012; 9 (Epub ahead of print): 54
- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.4th ed. American Psychiatric Association, Washington, DC1994
- Association of family history of autoimmune diseases and autism spectrum disorders.Pediatrics. 2009; 124: 687-694
- Immunological findings in autism.Int. Rev. Neurobiol. 2005; 71: 317-341
- Familial clustering of autoimmune disorders and evaluation of medical risk factors in autism.J. Child Neurol. 1999; 14: 388-394
- Serum autoantibodies to brain in Landau–Kleffiner variant, autism and other neurologic disorders.J. Pediatr. 1999; 134: 607-613
- A subset of lupus anti-DNA antibodies cross-reacts with the NR2 glutamate receptor in systemic lupus erythematosus.Nat. Med. 2001; 7: 1189-1193
- Moving towards a cure: blocking pathogenic antibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus.J. Intern. Med. 2011; 269: 36-44
- Enhanced mutational activity of Vkappa gene rearrangements in systemic lupus erythematosus.Clin. Immunol. 1999; 92: 188-196
- Autoimmunity in autism.Curr. Opin. Investig. Drugs. 2009; 10: 463-473
- Peptide inhibition of glomerular deposition of an anti-DNA antibody.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 1997; 94: 1955-1960
- Evaluation of the LIAISON ANA screen assay for antinuclear antibody testing in autoimmune diseases.Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 2007; 1109: 407-413
- Antibodies to DNA.N. Engl. J. Med. 1998; 338: 1359-1368
- DOMINO-AD protocol: donepezil and memantine in moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease — a multicentre RCT.Trials. 2010; 10: 57
- The generation of antibody diversity through somatic hypermutation and class switch recombination.Genes Dev. 2004; 18: 1-11
- Rheumatic diseases of childhood.in: Kliegman R.M. Behrman R.E. Jenson H.B. Stanton B.F. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 18th ed. WB Saunders, Philadelphia2008: 997
- Rheumatic diseases of childhood.in: Kliegman R.M. Behrman R.E. Jenson H.B. Stanton B.F. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 19th ed. WB Saunders, Philadelphia2012: 997
- Increased serum levels of anti-ganglioside M1 auto-antibodies in autistic children: relation to the disease severity.J. Neuroinflammation. 2011; 8: 39
- A lack of association between hyperserotonemia and the increased frequency of serum anti-myelin basic protein. auto-antibodies in autistic children.J. Neuroinflammation. 2011; 8: 71
- The possible link between the elevated serum levels of neurokinin A and anti-ribosomal P protein antibodies in children with autism.J. Neuroinflammation. 2011; 8: 180
- The relationship between the increased frequency of serum antineuronal antibodies and the severity of autism in children.Eur. J. Paediatr. Neurol. 2012; 16: 464-468
- The possible relationship between allergic manifestations and elevated serum levels of brain specific auto-antibodies in autistic children.J. Neuroimmunol. 2013; 261: 77-81
- Serum anti-nuclear antibodies as a marker of autoimmunity in Egyptian autistic children.Pediatr. Neurol. 2009; 40: 107-112
- The link of C4B null allele to autism and to a family history of autoimmunity in Egyptian autistic children.J. Neuroimmunol. 2010; 223: 115-119
- Serum anti-myelin-associated glycoprotein antibodies in Egyptian autistic children.J. Child Neurol. 2008; 23: 1413-1418
- Oxidative stress in Egyptian children with autism: relation to autoimmunity.J. Neuroimmunol. 2010; 219: 114-118
- Frequency of CD4+CD25high regulatoryT cells in the peripheral blood of Egyptian children with autism.J. Child Neurol. 2010; 25: 328-335
- Antinuclear antibodies.Autoimmunity. 2005; 38: 3-9
- Neuropsychological development of children born to patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.Lupus. 2004; 13: 805-811
- Potential role of IFN alpha in adult lupus.Arthritis Res. Ther. 2010; 12: S3
- The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), for Diagnostic Screening and Classification in Autism.Irvington, New York, NY1986
- Studies of human polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies binding to lupus autoantigens and cross-reactive antigens.Rheumatology. 2003; 42: 453-463
- Prevalence of serum antibodies to caudate nucleus in autistic children.Neurosci. Lett. 2004; 355: 53-56
- Serological association of measles virus and human herpesvirus-6 with brain autoantibodies in autism.Clin. Immunol. Immunopathol. 1998; 89: 105-108
- Increased prevalence of familial autoimmunity in probands with pervasive developmental disorders.Pediatrics. 2003; 112: 420-424
- Antinuclear antibodies: clinical applications.J. Postgrad. Med. 2000; 46: 144-148
- Antibodies to neuron-specific antigens in children with autism: possible cross-reaction with encephalitogenic proteins from milk, Chlamydia pneumoniae and Streptococcus group A.J. Neuroimmunol. 2002; 129: 168-177
- Autoantibodies and resident renal cells in the pathogenesis of lupus nephritis: getting to know the unknown.Clin. Dev. Immunol. 2012; : 139365
Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 26, 2014
Accepted:
April 17,
2014
Received in revised form:
April 12,
2014
Received:
January 3,
2014
Footnotes
☆All coauthors have seen and agreed with the contents of the manuscript.
☆☆Submission is not under review at any other publication.
★We have no financial or commercial involvement or other conflicts of interest by any author.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 Elsevier B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
