Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 2B5, Canada.
Centre for Blood Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada.
Viruses. 2018 Feb 11;10(2):77. doi: 10.3390/v10020077.
Long-term outcomes of perinatal exposure to maternal antiretroviral therapy in HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) children are unknown. However, both HIV antiretroviral therapy and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been associated with mitochondrial alterations. Leukocyte mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content can serve as a marker for mitochondrial dysfunction. In this cross-sectional, nested case-control study, HEU children with ASD were matched approximately 1:3 on age, sex, and ethnicity to HEU children without ASD, HIV-unexposed uninfected (HUU) controls, and HUU children with ASD. Leukocyte mtDNA content was measured using quantitative PCR. Among 299 HEU in this study, 14 (4.7%) were diagnosed with ASD, which is higher than the general population prevalence estimates. HEU children without ASD and HUU children with ASD had higher mtDNA content than HUU controls. HEU children with ASD had significantly higher mtDNA content than all other study groups. Our results suggest a clear association between elevated leukocyte mtDNA content and both HEU and ASD status. This may implicate mitochondrial dysfunction as a contributor to the high ASD prevalence observed in our cohort.
围产期暴露于抗逆转录病毒治疗的母婴抗逆转录病毒疗法对 HIV 未感染（HEU）儿童的长期结果尚不清楚。然而，HIV 抗逆转录病毒治疗和自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）都与线粒体改变有关。白细胞线粒体 DNA（mtDNA）含量可作为线粒体功能障碍的标志物。在这项横断面、巢式病例对照研究中，ASD 的 HEU 儿童与无 ASD 的 HEU 儿童、未暴露于 HIV 的未感染（HUU）对照和有 ASD 的 HUU 儿童按年龄、性别和种族进行了大约 1:3 的匹配。使用定量 PCR 测量白细胞 mtDNA 含量。在这项研究的 299 名 HEU 中，有 14 名（4.7%）被诊断为 ASD，这高于一般人群的估计患病率。无 ASD 的 HEU 儿童和有 ASD 的 HUU 儿童的 mtDNA 含量高于 HUU 对照组。ASD 的 HEU 儿童的 mtDNA 含量明显高于所有其他研究组。我们的研究结果表明，白细胞 mtDNA 含量升高与 HEU 和 ASD 状态之间存在明显关联。这可能表明线粒体功能障碍是我们队列中观察到的高 ASD 患病率的一个因素。
