Okada Kyoko, Hashimoto Kenji, Iwata Yasuhide, Nakamura Kazuhiko, Tsujii Masatsugu, Tsuchiya Kenji J, Sekine Yoshimoto, Suda Shiro, Suzuki Katsuaki, Sugihara Gen-ichi, Matsuzaki Hideo, Sugiyama Toshiro, Kawai Masayoshi, Minabe Yoshio, Takei Nori, Mori Norio
Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 431-3192, Japan.
Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2007 Jan 30;31(1):187-90. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2006.08.020. Epub 2006 Oct 6.
The neurobiological basis for autism remains poorly understood. Given the key role of transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) in brain development, we hypothesized that TGF-beta1 plays a role in the pathophysiology of autism. In this study, we studied whether serum levels of TGF-beta1 are altered in patients with autism.
We measured serum levels of TGF-beta1 in 19 male adult patients with autism and 21 age-matched male healthy subjects using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
The serum levels (7.34+/-5.21 ng/mL (mean+/-S.D.)) of TGF-beta1 in the patients with autism were significantly (z=-5.106, p<0.001) lower than those (14.48+/-1.64 ng/mL (mean+/-S.D.)) of normal controls. However, there were no marked or significant correlations between serum TGF-beta1 levels and other clinical variables, including Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) scores, Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), aggression, Theory of Mind, and Intellectual Quotient (IQ) in patients.
These findings suggest that decreased levels of TGF-beta1 may be implicated in the pathophysiology of autism.
自闭症的神经生物学基础仍知之甚少。鉴于转化生长因子β1（TGF-β1）在大脑发育中的关键作用，我们推测TGF-β1在自闭症的病理生理学中发挥作用。在本研究中，我们研究了自闭症患者血清中TGF-β1水平是否发生改变。
我们采用酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）法测量了19名成年男性自闭症患者和21名年龄匹配的男性健康受试者血清中TGF-β1的水平。
自闭症患者血清中TGF-β1水平（7.34±5.21 ng/mL（平均值±标准差））显著低于正常对照组（14.48±1.64 ng/mL（平均值±标准差））（z=-5.106，p<0.001）。然而，患者血清TGF-β1水平与其他临床变量之间无明显或显著相关性，这些变量包括修订版自闭症诊断访谈量表（ADI-R）得分、耶鲁-布朗强迫量表（Y-BOCS）、攻击性、心理理论和智商（IQ）。
这些发现表明，TGF-β1水平降低可能与自闭症的病理生理学有关。
