Novel maternal autoantibodies in autism spectrum disorder: Implications for screening and diagnosis

Frontiers in Neuroscience

Neuroscience

Patrick Vandormael¹  Veerle Somers¹  Rut Mazón-Cabrera¹  Bert Brône²  Jori Liesenborgs³ 

[1] Department of Immunology and Infection, Biomedical Research Institute, UHasselt, Transnational University Limburg, Diepenbeek, Belgium;Department of Neurosciences, Biomedical Research Institute, UHasselt, Transnational University Limburg, Diepenbeek, Belgium;Expertise Centre for Digital Media, UHasselt, Transnational University Limburg, Diepenbeek, Belgium;

关键词: autoantibodies;    autism spectrum disorder;    risk factor;    pregnancy;    biomarker;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fnins.2023.1067833

 received in 2022-10-12, accepted in 2023-01-09,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

IntroductionAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder for which early recognition is a major challenge. Autoantibodies against fetal brain antigens have been found in the blood of mothers of children with ASD (m-ASD) and can be transferred to the fetus where they can impact neurodevelopment by binding to fetal brain proteins. This study aims to identify novel maternal autoantibodies reactive against human fetal brain antigens, and explore their use as biomarkers for ASD screening and diagnosis.MethodsA custom-made human fetal brain cDNA phage display library was constructed, and screened for antibody reactivity in m-ASD samples from the Simons Simplex Collection (SSC) of the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI). Antibody reactivity against 6 identified antigens was determined in plasma samples of 238 m-ASD and 90 mothers with typically developing children (m-TD).ResultsWe identified antibodies to 6 novel University Hasselt (UH)-ASD antigens, including three novel m-ASD autoantigens, i.e., ribosomal protein L23 (RPL23), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and calmodulin-regulated spectrin-associated protein 3 (CAMSAP3). Antibody reactivity against a panel of four of these targets was found in 16% of m-ASD samples, compared to 4% in m-TD samples (p = 0.0049).DiscussionMaternal antibodies against 4 UH-ASD antigens could therefore provide a novel tool to support the diagnosis of ASD in a subset of individuals.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Mazón-Cabrera, Liesenborgs, Brône, Vandormael and Somers.