Autism Research and Treatment Center, AL-Amodi Autism Research Chair, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
J Neuroinflammation. 2011 Sep 5;8:111. doi: 10.1186/1742-2094-8-111.
Autoimmunity to brain may play a pathogenic role in autism. In autoimmune disorders, the formation of antigen-antibody complexes triggers an inflammatory response by inducing the infiltration of neutrophils. Local administration of recombinant progranulin, which is an anti-inflammatory neurotrophic factor, potently inhibit neutrophilic inflammation in vivo, demonstrating that progranulin represents a crucial inflammation-suppressing mediator. We are the first to measure plasma progranulin levels in autism.
Plasma levels of progranulin were measured, by ELISA, in 40 autistic patients, aged between 3 and 12 years, and 40 healthy-matched children.
Autistic children had significantly lower plasma progranulin levels, P = 0.001. Reduced plasma progranulin levels were found in 65% (26/40) of autistic children.On the other hand, there was a non significant difference between plasma progranulin levels of children with mild to moderate autism and patients with severe autism, P = 0.11.
Plasma progranulin levels were reduced in a subgroup of patients with autism. Progranulin insufficiency in some patients with autism may result in many years of reduced neutrotrophic support together with cumulative damage in association with dysregulated inflammation that may have a role in autism. However, these data should be treated with caution until further investigations are performed, with a larger subject population, to determine whether the decrease of plasma progranulin levels is a mere consequence of autism or has a pathogenic role in the disease. The role of progranulin therapy should also be studied in autism.
自身免疫脑可能在自闭症中起致病作用。在自身免疫性疾病中，抗原-抗体复合物的形成通过诱导中性粒细胞浸润引发炎症反应。重组颗粒蛋白前体的局部给药，作为一种抗炎神经营养因子，在体内有力地抑制中性粒细胞炎症，证明颗粒蛋白前体代表了一个关键的炎症抑制介质。我们是第一个测量自闭症患者血浆颗粒蛋白前体水平的人。
通过 ELISA，我们测量了 40 名年龄在 3 至 12 岁之间的自闭症患者和 40 名健康匹配儿童的血浆颗粒蛋白前体水平。
自闭症儿童的血浆颗粒蛋白前体水平显著降低，P = 0.001。在 65%（26/40）的自闭症儿童中发现了降低的血浆颗粒蛋白前体水平。另一方面，轻度至中度自闭症儿童和重度自闭症患者之间的血浆颗粒蛋白前体水平没有显著差异，P = 0.11。
自闭症患者的血浆颗粒蛋白前体水平降低。一些自闭症患者的颗粒蛋白前体不足可能导致多年来缺乏神经营养支持，加上与失调炎症相关的累积损伤，这可能在自闭症中起作用。然而，这些数据应谨慎对待，直到进一步的研究，使用更大的研究对象群体，以确定血浆颗粒蛋白前体水平的降低是自闭症的单纯后果还是在疾病中有致病作用。颗粒蛋白前体治疗的作用也应该在自闭症中进行研究。
