Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Section of Psychiatry, University of Pisa, Via Roma, 6756100 Pisa, Italy.
Curr Med Chem. 2020;27(31):5119-5136. doi: 10.2174/0929867326666190328151539.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a condition strongly associated with genetic predisposition and familial aggregation. Among ASD patients, different levels of symptoms severity are detectable, while the presence of intermediate autism phenotypes in close relatives of ASD probands is also known in literature. Recently, increasing attention has been paid to environmental factors that might play a role in modulating the relationship between genomic risk and development and severity of ASD. Within this framework, an increasing body of evidence has stressed a possible role of both gut microbiota and inflammation in the pathophysiology of neurodevelopment. The aim of this paper is to review findings about the link between microbiota dysbiosis, inflammation and ASD.
Articles ranging from 1990 to 2018 were identified on PUBMED and Google Scholar databases, with keyword combinations as: microbiota, immune system, inflammation, ASD, autism, broad autism phenotype, adult.
Recent evidence suggests that microbiota alterations, immune system and neurodevelopment may be deeply intertwined, shaping each other during early life. However, results from both animal models and human samples are still heterogeneous, while few studies focused on adult patients and ASD intermediate phenotypes.
A better understanding of these pathways, within an integrative framework between central and peripheral systems, might not only shed more light on neural basis of ASD symptoms, clarifying brain pathophysiology, but it may also allow to develop new therapeutic strategies for these disorders, still poorly responsive to available treatments.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）是一种与遗传易感性和家族聚集强烈相关的疾病。在 ASD 患者中，可以检测到不同程度的症状严重程度，而在 ASD 先证者的近亲中也存在中间自闭症表型。最近，人们越来越关注环境因素，这些因素可能在调节基因组风险与 ASD 的发展和严重程度之间的关系中发挥作用。在这一框架内，越来越多的证据强调了肠道微生物群和炎症在神经发育的病理生理学中的可能作用。本文的目的是综述微生物群失调、炎症与 ASD 之间联系的研究结果。
在 PUBMED 和 Google Scholar 数据库中，使用“microbiota、immune system、inflammation、ASD、autism、broad autism phenotype、adult”等关键词组合，检索 1990 年至 2018 年的文献。
最近的证据表明，微生物群改变、免疫系统和神经发育可能相互交织，在生命早期相互塑造。然而，动物模型和人类样本的结果仍然存在异质性，而很少有研究关注成年患者和 ASD 中间表型。
在中枢和外周系统之间的综合框架内更好地理解这些途径，不仅可以更深入地了解 ASD 症状的神经基础，阐明大脑病理生理学，而且还可能为这些疾病开发新的治疗策略，这些疾病对现有治疗方法的反应仍然很差。
