Gut Microbial Profile Is Associated With the Severity of Social Impairment and IQ Performance in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
Background and Objective: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) refers to a heterogeneous set of neurodevelopmental disorders with diverse symptom severity and comorbidities. Although alterations in gut microbiota have been reported in individuals with ASD, it remains unclear whether certain microbial patt...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.789864/full |
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| author | Zilin Chen Kai Shi Xin Liu Yuan Dai Yuqi Liu Lingli Zhang Xiujuan Du Tailin Zhu Juehua Yu Shuanfeng Fang Fei Li |
| author_facet | Zilin Chen Kai Shi Xin Liu Yuan Dai Yuqi Liu Lingli Zhang Xiujuan Du Tailin Zhu Juehua Yu Shuanfeng Fang Fei Li |
| author_sort | Zilin Chen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background and Objective: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) refers to a heterogeneous set of neurodevelopmental disorders with diverse symptom severity and comorbidities. Although alterations in gut microbiota have been reported in individuals with ASD, it remains unclear whether certain microbial pattern is linked to specific symptom or comorbidity in ASD. We aimed to investigate the associations between gut microbiota and the severity of social impairment and cognitive functioning in children with ASD.Methods: A total of 261 age-matched children, including 138 children diagnosed with ASD, 63 with developmental delay or intellectual disability (DD/ID), and 60 typically developing (TD) children, were enrolled from the Shanghai Xinhua Registry. The children with ASD were further classified into two subgroups: 76 children diagnosed with ASD and developmental disorder (ASD+DD) and 62 with ASD only (ASD-only). The gut microbiome of all children was profiled and evaluated by 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing.Results: The gut microbial analyses demonstrated an altered microbial community structure in children with ASD. The alpha diversity indices of the ASD+DD and ASD-only subgroups were significantly lower than the DD/ID or TD groups. At the genus level, we observed a decrease in the relative abundance of Prevotella. Simultaneously, Bacteroides and Faecalibacterium were significantly increased in ASD compared with DD/ID and TD participants. There was a clear correlation between alpha diversity and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) total score for all participants, and this correlation was independent of IQ performance. Similar correlations with the CARS total score were observed for genera Bacteroides, Faecalibacterium, and Oscillospira. However, there was no single genus significantly associated with IQ in all participants.Conclusions: Specific alterations in bacterial taxonomic composition and associations with the severity of social impairment and IQ performance were observed in children with ASD or ASD subgroups, when compared with DD/ID or TD groups. These results illustrate that gut microbiota may serve as a promising biomarker for ASD symptoms. Nevertheless, further investigations are warranted. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T13:45:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4cec886ba6204407b6c05f33682e9ab4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-0640 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T13:45:36Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj.art-4cec886ba6204407b6c05f33682e9ab42022-12-21T17:44:44ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychiatry1664-06402021-12-011210.3389/fpsyt.2021.789864789864Gut Microbial Profile Is Associated With the Severity of Social Impairment and IQ Performance in Children With Autism Spectrum DisorderZilin Chen0Kai Shi1Xin Liu2Yuan Dai3Yuqi Liu4Lingli Zhang5Xiujuan Du6Tailin Zhu7Juehua Yu8Shuanfeng Fang9Fei Li10Department of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatric & Child Primary Care, Brain and Behavioral Research Unit of Shanghai Institute for Pediatric Research and MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory for Children's Environmental Health, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, ChinaInstitute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, ChinaDepartment of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatric & Child Primary Care, Brain and Behavioral Research Unit of Shanghai Institute for Pediatric Research and MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory for Children's Environmental Health, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, ChinaDepartment of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatric & Child Primary Care, Brain and Behavioral Research Unit of Shanghai Institute for Pediatric Research and MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory for Children's Environmental Health, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, ChinaDepartment of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatric & Child Primary Care, Brain and Behavioral Research Unit of Shanghai Institute for Pediatric Research and MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory for Children's Environmental Health, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, ChinaDepartment of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatric & Child Primary Care, Brain and Behavioral Research Unit of Shanghai Institute for Pediatric Research and MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory for Children's Environmental Health, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, ChinaDepartment of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatric & Child Primary Care, Brain and Behavioral Research Unit of Shanghai Institute for Pediatric Research and MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory for Children's Environmental Health, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, ChinaDepartment of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatric & Child Primary Care, Brain and Behavioral Research Unit of Shanghai Institute for Pediatric Research and MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory for Children's Environmental Health, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, ChinaCentre for Experimental Studies and Research, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, ChinaDepartment of Child Health Care, Children's Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, ChinaDepartment of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatric & Child Primary Care, Brain and Behavioral Research Unit of Shanghai Institute for Pediatric Research and MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory for Children's Environmental Health, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, ChinaBackground and Objective: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) refers to a heterogeneous set of neurodevelopmental disorders with diverse symptom severity and comorbidities. Although alterations in gut microbiota have been reported in individuals with ASD, it remains unclear whether certain microbial pattern is linked to specific symptom or comorbidity in ASD. We aimed to investigate the associations between gut microbiota and the severity of social impairment and cognitive functioning in children with ASD.Methods: A total of 261 age-matched children, including 138 children diagnosed with ASD, 63 with developmental delay or intellectual disability (DD/ID), and 60 typically developing (TD) children, were enrolled from the Shanghai Xinhua Registry. The children with ASD were further classified into two subgroups: 76 children diagnosed with ASD and developmental disorder (ASD+DD) and 62 with ASD only (ASD-only). The gut microbiome of all children was profiled and evaluated by 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing.Results: The gut microbial analyses demonstrated an altered microbial community structure in children with ASD. The alpha diversity indices of the ASD+DD and ASD-only subgroups were significantly lower than the DD/ID or TD groups. At the genus level, we observed a decrease in the relative abundance of Prevotella. Simultaneously, Bacteroides and Faecalibacterium were significantly increased in ASD compared with DD/ID and TD participants. There was a clear correlation between alpha diversity and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) total score for all participants, and this correlation was independent of IQ performance. Similar correlations with the CARS total score were observed for genera Bacteroides, Faecalibacterium, and Oscillospira. However, there was no single genus significantly associated with IQ in all participants.Conclusions: Specific alterations in bacterial taxonomic composition and associations with the severity of social impairment and IQ performance were observed in children with ASD or ASD subgroups, when compared with DD/ID or TD groups. These results illustrate that gut microbiota may serve as a promising biomarker for ASD symptoms. Nevertheless, further investigations are warranted.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.789864/fullautismgut microbiota16S rRNAdevelopmental delay/intellectual disabilityintelligence quotient |
| spellingShingle | Zilin Chen Kai Shi Xin Liu Yuan Dai Yuqi Liu Lingli Zhang Xiujuan Du Tailin Zhu Juehua Yu Shuanfeng Fang Fei Li Gut Microbial Profile Is Associated With the Severity of Social Impairment and IQ Performance in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder Frontiers in Psychiatry autism gut microbiota 16S rRNA developmental delay/intellectual disability intelligence quotient |
| title | Gut Microbial Profile Is Associated With the Severity of Social Impairment and IQ Performance in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder |
| title_full | Gut Microbial Profile Is Associated With the Severity of Social Impairment and IQ Performance in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder |
| title_fullStr | Gut Microbial Profile Is Associated With the Severity of Social Impairment and IQ Performance in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder |
| title_full_unstemmed | Gut Microbial Profile Is Associated With the Severity of Social Impairment and IQ Performance in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder |
| title_short | Gut Microbial Profile Is Associated With the Severity of Social Impairment and IQ Performance in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder |
| title_sort | gut microbial profile is associated with the severity of social impairment and iq performance in children with autism spectrum disorder |
| topic | autism gut microbiota 16S rRNA developmental delay/intellectual disability intelligence quotient |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.789864/full |
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