Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

, Volume 38, Issue 1, pp 169–175 | Cite as

Brief Report: Plasma Leptin Levels are Elevated in Autism: Association with Early Onset Phenotype?

  • Paul Ashwood
  • Christina Kwong
  • Robin Hansen
  • Irva Hertz-Picciotto
  • Lisa Croen
  • Paula Krakowiak
  • Wynn Walker
  • Isaac N. Pessah
  • Judy Van de Water
Brief Communication
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

There is evidence of both immune dysregulation and autoimmune phenomena in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We examined the hormone/cytokine leptin in 70 children diagnosed with autism (including 37 with regression) compared with 99 age-matched controls including 50 typically developing (TD) controls, 26 siblings without autism, and 23 children with developmental disabilities (DD). Children with autism had significantly higher plasma leptin levels compared with TD controls (p < .006). When further sub-classified into regression or early onset autism, children with early onset autism had significantly higher plasma leptin levels compared with children with regressive autism (p < .042), TD controls (p < .0015), and DD controls (p < .004). We demonstrated an increase in leptin levels in autism, a finding driven by the early onset group.

Keywords

Inflammation Leptin Autism Regression 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by NIEHS 1 P01 ES11269-01, the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) through the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program (Grant R829388), the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute, The Ted Lindsay Foundation, and Visceral. We would like to thank the staff of both the UC Davis M.I.N.D Institute and the CHARGE study for their technical support. The commitment of the families who took part in these studies, at both the M.I.N.D Institute and as part of the CHARGE study, is also gratefully acknowledged.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

Authors and Affiliations

  • Paul Ashwood
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
  • Christina Kwong
    • 4
    • 10
  • Robin Hansen
    • 2
    • 3
    • 5
  • Irva Hertz-Picciotto
    • 2
    • 3
    • 6
  • Lisa Croen
    • 3
    • 7
  • Paula Krakowiak
    • 2
    • 3
    • 6
  • Wynn Walker
    • 8
  • Isaac N. Pessah
    • 2
    • 3
    • 9
  • Judy Van de Water
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
  1. 1.Department of Medical Microbiology and ImmunologyUniversity of California at DavisDavisUSA
  2. 2.The M.I.N.D. InstituteUniversity of California at DavisDavisUSA
  3. 3.NIEHS Center for Children’s Environmental HealthUniversity of California at DavisDavisUSA
  4. 4.Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Clinical ImmunologyUniversity of California at DavisDavisUSA
  5. 5.Department of PediatricsUniversity of California at DavisDavisUSA
  6. 6.Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of EpidemiologyUniversity of California at DavisDavisUSA
  7. 7.Department of ResearchKaiser Permanente Northern CaliforniaOaklandUSA
  8. 8.Department of NeurologyUniversity of California at DavisDavisUSA
  9. 9.Department of Veterinary Molecular BiosciencesUniversity of California at DavisDavisUSA
  10. 10.School of MedicineRosalind Franklin University of Medicine and ScienceNorth ChicagoUSA

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