Neurophysiology Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
Department of Medical Genetics, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Cytokine. 2018 Aug;108:120-126. doi: 10.1016/j.cyto.2018.03.034. Epub 2018 Mar 28.
The etiology of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) as severe neurodevelopmental ailments is not known. However, several evidences point to dysregulation of immune system as an underlying cause of ASD. In the present study we evaluated the mRNA expression levels of TNF-α, TGF-β, IFN-γ, CXCL8, IL-1β, IL-2, 1L-4, IL-6, IL-17 in whole blood samples of 30 ASD patients and 41 age and sex-matched healthy subjects with means of real-time PCR. TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-17 have been shown to be significantly up-regulated in ASD patients compared with healthy subjects (P < 0.0001, P = 0.001 and P < 0.0001 respectively). IL-2 has been shown to be significantly down-regulated in total ASD patients (P < 0.0001). No significant difference has been found in expression levels of other cytokines between patients and healthy subjects. The present study provides further evidences for dysregulation of immune response in ASD patients.
自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 作为严重的神经发育疾病的病因尚不清楚。然而，有几项证据表明免疫系统失调是 ASD 的潜在原因。在本研究中，我们通过实时 PCR 方法评估了 30 名 ASD 患者和 41 名年龄和性别匹配的健康对照者全血样本中 TNF-α、TGF-β、IFN-γ、CXCL8、IL-1β、IL-2、IL-4、IL-6、IL-17 的 mRNA 表达水平。结果显示，与健康对照组相比，ASD 患者中 TNF-α、IL-6 和 IL-17 的表达显著上调（P<0.0001、P=0.001 和 P<0.0001 分别）。IL-2 在总 ASD 患者中表达显著下调（P<0.0001）。患者和健康对照者之间其他细胞因子的表达水平没有发现显著差异。本研究为 ASD 患者免疫反应失调提供了进一步证据。
