title: Antibrain antibodies in children with autism and their unaffected siblings.
abstract: Serum autoantibodies to human brain, identified by ELISA and Western immunoblotting, were evaluated in 29 children with autism spectrum disorder (22 with autistic disorder), 9 non-autistic siblings and 13 controls. More autistic subjects than controls had bands at 100 kDa in caudate, putamen and prefrontal cortex (p<0.01) as well as larger peak heights of bands at 73 kDa in the cerebellum and cingulate gyrus. Both autistic disorder subjects and their matched non-autistic siblings had denser bands (peak height and/or area under the curve) at 73 kDa in the cerebellum and cingulate gyrus than did controls (p<0.01). Results suggest that children with autistic disorder and their siblings exhibit differences compared to controls in autoimmune reactivity to specific epitopes located in distinct brain regions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Jefferson Street Building 124, 600 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21287-1000, USA. hsinger@jhmi.edu
authors.forename: Harvey S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Singer
authors.forename: Christina M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: Phillip N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Dustin Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: John J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Andrew W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Zimmerman
mesh_terms: D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000276:immunology*; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001921:Brain / Q000276:immunology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010375:Pedigree; D035781:Siblings
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies