Tordjman Sylvie, Charrier Annaëlle, Kazatchkine Michel, Roubertoux Pierre, Botbol Michel, Bronsard Guillaume, Avrameas Stratis
Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center (INCC), 75006 Paris, France.
Pôle Hospitalo-Universitaire de Psychiatrie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent de Rennes (PHUPEA), Centre Hospitalier Guillaume Régnier (CHGR) et Université de Rennes 1, 35000 Rennes, France.
Biomedicines. 2023 Feb 27;11(3):715. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines11030715.
Many and diverse autoimmune abnormalities have been reported in children with autism. Natural autoantibodies (NAAbs) play important immunoregulatory roles in recognition of the immune self. The objective of this study was to examine the presence of NAAbs in the sera of children with autism and across severity subgroups of autistic behavioral impairments. NAAbs were titrated in sera through an ELISA procedure in 60 low-functioning children with autism and 112 typically developing controls matched for age, sex and puberty. Serum titers of IgG anti-F(ab') autoantibodies were significantly lower in children with autism compared to typically developing controls ( < 0.0001), and were significantly negatively associated with autism severity ( = 0.0001). This data appears to be related more specifically to autism than to intellectual disability, given that IgG anti-F(ab') levels were significantly negatively correlated with IQ scores in the autism group ( = 0.01). This is the first report in autism of abnormally low natural anti-F(ab') autoantibody activity. The findings suggest a dysfunction of self-recognition mechanisms which may play a role in the pathogenesis of autism, especially for the severely affected children. These findings strengthen the hypothesis of an autoimmune process in autism and open the prospect of alternative medical treatment. Further neuroimmunological research is warranted to understand the exact mechanisms underlying this reduced natural IgG anti-F (ab') autoantibody activity, and to assess its impact on the pathophysiology and behavioral expression of autism.
已有报道称，患有自闭症的儿童存在多种不同的自身免疫异常情况。天然自身抗体（NAAbs）在识别免疫自我方面发挥着重要的免疫调节作用。本研究的目的是检测自闭症儿童血清中以及自闭症行为障碍严重程度不同亚组中的天然自身抗体的存在情况。通过酶联免疫吸附测定法（ELISA）对60名低功能自闭症儿童和112名年龄、性别及青春期相匹配的正常发育对照儿童的血清进行天然自身抗体滴定。与正常发育的对照儿童相比，自闭症儿童血清中IgG抗F（ab'）自身抗体的滴度显著降低（<0.0001），且与自闭症严重程度显著负相关（=0.0001）。鉴于自闭症组中IgG抗F（ab'）水平与智商分数显著负相关（=0.01），该数据似乎与自闭症的关联更为具体，而非与智力残疾相关。这是关于自闭症患者天然抗F（ab'）自身抗体活性异常降低的首次报道。研究结果表明自我识别机制存在功能障碍，这可能在自闭症的发病机制中起作用，尤其是对于重度受影响的儿童。这些发现强化了自闭症存在自身免疫过程的假设，并为替代医学治疗开辟了前景。有必要进行进一步的神经免疫学研究，以了解这种天然IgG抗F（ab'）自身抗体活性降低的确切机制，并评估其对自闭症病理生理学和行为表现的影响。
