Elevated cytokine levels in children with autism spectrum disorder.
This study compared production of IL-2, IFN-gamma, IL-4, IL-13, IL-5 and IL-10 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 20 children with autism spectrum disorder to those from matched controls. Levels of all Th2 cytokines were significantly higher in cases after incubation in media alone, but the IFN-gamma/IL-13 ratio was not significantly different between cases and controls. Cases had significantly higher IL-13/IL-10 and IFN-gamma/IL-10 than controls.


CONCLUSIONS
Children with ASD had increased activation of both Th2 and Th1 arms of the adaptive immune response, with a Th2 predominance, and without the compensatory increase in the regulatory cytokine IL-10.
Molloy
Cynthia A
CA
Center for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, and Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45229-3039, United States. cynthia.molloy@cchmc.org
Morrow
Ardythe L
AL
Meinzen-Derr
Jareen
J
Schleifer
Kathleen
K
Dienger
Krista
K
Manning-Courtney
Patricia
P
Altaye
Mekibib
M
Wills-Karp
Marsha
M
D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male
D016207:Cytokines