Serum Antinucleosome-specific Antibody As a Marker of Autoimmunity in Children with Autism

Overview

Journal J Neuroinflammation

Publisher Biomed Central

Date 2014 Apr 9

PMID 24708718

Citations 11

Authors

Laila Yousef Al-Ayadhi

Gehan Ahmed Mostafa

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Increasing evidence of autoimmune phenomena in some individuals with autism could represent the presence of altered or inappropriate immune responses in this disorder. The role of the nucleosome in the induction of antibody response in some autoimmune-mediated tissue damage may provide novel targets for treatment. Due to the paucity of studies investigating the frequency of systemic auto-antibodies in autism, we are the first to investigate the frequency of antinucleosome-specific antibodies in a group of autistic children.

Methods: Serum antinucleosome-specific antibodies were measured by ELISA in 60 autistic children, between the ages of 3 and 12 years, in comparison to 60 healthy children. Autistic severity was assessed using the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS).

Results: Autistic children had significantly higher serum antinucleosome-specific antibodies than healthy children (P <0.001). The seropositivity of antinucleosome-specific antibodies was found in 46.7% of autistic children. Autistic children with a family history of autoimmunity (40%) had a significantly higher frequency of serum antinucleosome-specific antibodies (83.3%) than patients without such a history (22.2%, P <0.001).

Conclusions: Serum levels of antinucleosome-specific antibodies were increased in some autistic children. However, these data should be treated with caution until further investigations are performed with a larger subject population to determine whether these antibodies have a role in the induction of autoimmunity in a subgroup of autistic children. The role of immunotherapy in children with autism should be also studied.

Citing Articles

Role of autoimmunity in Neuronal damage in children with Autism spectrum disorder.

Halepoto D, Al-Ayadhi L, Alhowikan A, Elamin N Pak J Med Sci. 2023; 39(6):1858-1864.

PMID: 37936741 PMC: 10626070. DOI: 10.12669/pjms.39.6.6804.

Assessment of a combination of plasma anti-histone autoantibodies and PLA2/PE ratio as potential biomarkers to clinically predict autism spectrum disorders.

El-Ansary A, Al-Onazi M, Alhowikan A, Alghamdi M, Al-Ayadhi L Sci Rep. 2022; 12(1):13359.

PMID: 35922658 PMC: 9349315. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-17533-0.

Immune Dysregulation in Autism Spectrum Disorder: What Do We Know about It?.

Robinson-Agramonte M, Garcia E, Fraga Guerra J, Vega Hurtado Y, Antonucci N, Semprun-Hernandez N Int J Mol Sci. 2022; 23(6).

PMID: 35328471 PMC: 8955336. DOI: 10.3390/ijms23063033.

Molecular Mechanisms of Aberrant Neuroplasticity in Autism Spectrum Disorders (Review).

Anashkina A, Erlykina E Sovrem Tekhnologii Med. 2021; 13(1):78-91.

PMID: 34513070 PMC: 8353687. DOI: 10.17691/stm2021.13.1.10.

Antigenic Targets of Patient and Maternal Autoantibodies in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Mazon-Cabrera R, Vandormael P, Somers V Front Immunol. 2019; 10:1474.

PMID: 31379804 PMC: 6659315. DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2019.01474.

References

Suleiman S, Kamaliah D, Nadeem A, Naing N, Che Maraina C . Anti-nucleosome antibodies as a disease activity marker in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Int J Rheum Dis. 2010; 12(2):100-6. DOI: 10.1111/j.1756-185X.2009.01391.x. View

Mostafa G, Shehab A . The link of C4B null allele to autism and to a family history of autoimmunity in Egyptian autistic children. J Neuroimmunol. 2010; 223(1-2):115-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.jneuroim.2010.03.025. View

Cohly H, Panja A . Immunological findings in autism. Int Rev Neurobiol. 2006; 71:317-41. DOI: 10.1016/s0074-7742(05)71013-8. View

Burlingame R, Rubin R . Subnucleosome structures as substrates in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. J Immunol Methods. 1990; 134(2):187-99. DOI: 10.1016/0022-1759(90)90380-e. View

Berden J, Licht R, van Bruggen M, Tax W . Role of nucleosomes for induction and glomerular binding of autoantibodies in lupus nephritis. Curr Opin Nephrol Hypertens. 1999; 8(3):299-306. DOI: 10.1097/00041552-199905000-00005. View

Amoura Z, Piette J, Chabre H, Cacoub P, Papo T, Wechsler B . Circulating plasma levels of nucleosomes in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: correlation with serum antinucleosome antibody titers and absence of clear association with disease activity. Arthritis Rheum. 1998; 40(12):2217-25. DOI: 10.1002/art.1780401217. View

Odell D, Maciulis A, Cutler A, Warren L, McMahon W, Coon H . Confirmation of the association of the C4B null allelle in autism. Hum Immunol. 2005; 66(2):140-5. DOI: 10.1016/j.humimm.2004.11.002. View

Pradhan V, Patwardhan M, Ghosh K . Anti-nucleosome antibodies as a disease marker in systemic lupus erythematosus and its correlation with disease activity and other autoantibodies. Indian J Dermatol Venereol Leprol. 2010; 76(2):145-9. DOI: 10.4103/0378-6323.60558. View

Burlingame R, Boey M, Starkebaum G, Rubin R . The central role of chromatin in autoimmune responses to histones and DNA in systemic lupus erythematosus. J Clin Invest. 1994; 94(1):184-92. PMC: 296296. DOI: 10.1172/JCI117305. View

10.

Wanchu A . Antinuclear antibodies: clinical applications. J Postgrad Med. 2000; 46(2):144-8. View

11.

El-Ansary A, Al-Ayadhi L . Neuroinflammation in autism spectrum disorders. J Neuroinflammation. 2012; 9:265. PMC: 3549857. DOI: 10.1186/1742-2094-9-265. View

12.

Tumlin J . Lupus nephritis: novel immunosuppressive modalities and future directions. Semin Nephrol. 1999; 19(1):67-76. View

13.

Muro Y . Antinuclear antibodies. Autoimmunity. 2005; 38(1):3-9. DOI: 10.1080/08916930400024612. View

14.

Singh V, Lin S, Yang V . Serological association of measles virus and human herpesvirus-6 with brain autoantibodies in autism. Clin Immunol Immunopathol. 1998; 89(1):105-8. DOI: 10.1006/clin.1998.4588. View

15.

Warren R, Singh V, Cole P, Odell J, Pingree C, Warren W . Increased frequency of the null allele at the complement C4b locus in autism. Clin Exp Immunol. 1991; 83(3):438-40. PMC: 1535320. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2249.1991.tb05657.x. View

16.

Mostafa G, Al Shehab A, Fouad N . Frequency of CD4+CD25high regulatory T cells in the peripheral blood of Egyptian children with autism. J Child Neurol. 2009; 25(3):328-35. DOI: 10.1177/0883073809339393. View

17.

Cozzani E, Drosera M, Gasparini G, Parodi A . Serology of Lupus Erythematosus: Correlation between Immunopathological Features and Clinical Aspects. Autoimmune Dis. 2014; 2014:321359. PMC: 3932647. DOI: 10.1155/2014/321359. View

18.

Mostafa G, Al-Ayadhi L . Increased serum levels of anti-ganglioside M1 auto-antibodies in autistic children: relation to the disease severity. J Neuroinflammation. 2011; 8:39. PMC: 3104945. DOI: 10.1186/1742-2094-8-39. View

19.

Herrmann M, Voll R, Zoller O, Hagenhofer M, Ponner B, Kalden J . Impaired phagocytosis of apoptotic cell material by monocyte-derived macrophages from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis Rheum. 1998; 41(7):1241-50. DOI: 10.1002/1529-0131(199807)41:7<1241::AID-ART15>3.0.CO;2-H. View

20.

Lucarelli S, Frediani T, Zingoni A, Ferruzzi F, Giardini O, Quintieri F . Food allergy and infantile autism. Panminerva Med. 1995; 37(3):137-41. View