Abstract
Previous investigations found that a subset of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in California possessed plasma autoantibodies that reacted intensely with brain interneurons or other neural profiles. Moreover, for several cohorts of American women, maternal autoantibody reactivity to specific fetal brain proteins was highly specific to mothers of children with ASD. We sought to determine whether children and their mothers from a regionally specific cohort from the Basque Country of Spain demonstrated similar reactivity. Some children’s plasma reacted to interneurons, beaded axons or other neural profiles with no difference in the occurrence of these antibodies in children with or without ASD. Findings on the maternal antibodies confirmed previous research; plasma reactivity to fetal brain a combination of proteins at 37 and 73 kDa or 39 and 73 kDa was found exclusively in mothers of children with ASD.
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Acknowledgments
The generous collaboration of staff and families from the Gautena Autism regional program and from the community schools (San Benito Ikastola from Lazkao and Ekintza Ikastola from Donostia/San Sebastián) is acknowledged. Partial funding for this project came from the Policlinica Gipuzkoa—Dr. Carlos Elósegui Research Foundation. Dr. Fuentes has received research support from, has served as speaker for, or has served on the advisory boards of Eli Lilly and Co., Janssen, and Shire.
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Rossi, C.C., Fuentes, J., Van de Water, J. et al. Brief Report: Antibodies Reacting to Brain Tissue in Basque Spanish Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Their Mothers. J Autism Dev Disord 44, 459–465 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1859-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1859-y