Elevated Plasma Reelin Levels in Children With Autism
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders involving age-dependent gene dysregulation. Reelin is a glycoprotein that varies its expression throughout lifetime and controls cortical patterning and synaptogenesis. Brain and plasma reelin levels have been reported to be l...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00242/full |
| _version_ | 1817987139799875584 |
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| author | Inmaculada Cuchillo-Ibáñez Inmaculada Cuchillo-Ibáñez Patricia Andreo-Lillo Lorena Pastor-Ferrándiz Francisco Carratalá-Marco Javier Sáez-Valero Javier Sáez-Valero |
| author_facet | Inmaculada Cuchillo-Ibáñez Inmaculada Cuchillo-Ibáñez Patricia Andreo-Lillo Lorena Pastor-Ferrándiz Francisco Carratalá-Marco Javier Sáez-Valero Javier Sáez-Valero |
| author_sort | Inmaculada Cuchillo-Ibáñez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders involving age-dependent gene dysregulation. Reelin is a glycoprotein that varies its expression throughout lifetime and controls cortical patterning and synaptogenesis. Brain and plasma reelin levels have been reported to be low in adults with autism; as well as in children with autism, but only when compared to control adults. Therefore, reelin expression levels in children with autism are unclear. For this reason, we compared plasma reelin levels in children with autism and children without autism (non-ASD) of similar ages to evaluate reelin expression in ASD during childhood. Plasma samples from 19 non-ASD (8.9 ± 0.8 years) and 40 children with autism (7.5 ± 0.5 years) were analyzed. We found that 50% of the children with autism displayed similar plasma reelin levels to the non-ASD group. However, the remaining 50% expressed more than 30 times more reelin compared to non-ASD levels. We also show that male children with autism displayed significantly higher reelin levels than females. The clinical presentation of this subgroup could not be distinguished from that of children with autism. Epilepsy or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was not associated to reelin levels. We conclude that the high levels of plasma reelin might be an important hallmark in a subset of children with autism, previously unnoticed. As we could not find any correlation between reelin levels and ASD clinical presentations, our results may indicate transient reelin increases in the plasma or the characterization of a group of ASD individuals with a different pathophysiology. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T00:18:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6f000115b3604bbe8dbf26e121af8e42 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-0640 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T00:18:03Z |
| publishDate | 2020-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj.art-6f000115b3604bbe8dbf26e121af8e422022-12-22T02:23:03ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychiatry1664-06402020-03-011110.3389/fpsyt.2020.00242488755Elevated Plasma Reelin Levels in Children With AutismInmaculada Cuchillo-Ibáñez0Inmaculada Cuchillo-Ibáñez1Patricia Andreo-Lillo2Lorena Pastor-Ferrándiz3Francisco Carratalá-Marco4Javier Sáez-Valero5Javier Sáez-Valero6Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante, Department of Molecular Neurobiology and Neuropathology, Universidad Miguel Hernández-CSIC, Sant Joan d’Alacant, SpainCentro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Sant Joan d’Alacant, SpainNeuropediatric Unit, Pediatric Department, University Hospital of Sant Joan d’Alacant, Sant Joan d’Alacant, SpainNeuropediatric Unit, Pediatric Department, University Hospital of Sant Joan d’Alacant, Sant Joan d’Alacant, SpainNeuropediatric Unit, Pediatric Department, University Hospital of Sant Joan d’Alacant, Sant Joan d’Alacant, SpainInstituto de Neurociencias de Alicante, Department of Molecular Neurobiology and Neuropathology, Universidad Miguel Hernández-CSIC, Sant Joan d’Alacant, SpainCentro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Sant Joan d’Alacant, SpainAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders involving age-dependent gene dysregulation. Reelin is a glycoprotein that varies its expression throughout lifetime and controls cortical patterning and synaptogenesis. Brain and plasma reelin levels have been reported to be low in adults with autism; as well as in children with autism, but only when compared to control adults. Therefore, reelin expression levels in children with autism are unclear. For this reason, we compared plasma reelin levels in children with autism and children without autism (non-ASD) of similar ages to evaluate reelin expression in ASD during childhood. Plasma samples from 19 non-ASD (8.9 ± 0.8 years) and 40 children with autism (7.5 ± 0.5 years) were analyzed. We found that 50% of the children with autism displayed similar plasma reelin levels to the non-ASD group. However, the remaining 50% expressed more than 30 times more reelin compared to non-ASD levels. We also show that male children with autism displayed significantly higher reelin levels than females. The clinical presentation of this subgroup could not be distinguished from that of children with autism. Epilepsy or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was not associated to reelin levels. We conclude that the high levels of plasma reelin might be an important hallmark in a subset of children with autism, previously unnoticed. As we could not find any correlation between reelin levels and ASD clinical presentations, our results may indicate transient reelin increases in the plasma or the characterization of a group of ASD individuals with a different pathophysiology.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00242/fullreelinautismchildrenenzyme-linked immunosorbent assayWestern blottingdimers |
| spellingShingle | Inmaculada Cuchillo-Ibáñez Inmaculada Cuchillo-Ibáñez Patricia Andreo-Lillo Lorena Pastor-Ferrándiz Francisco Carratalá-Marco Javier Sáez-Valero Javier Sáez-Valero Elevated Plasma Reelin Levels in Children With Autism Frontiers in Psychiatry reelin autism children enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay Western blotting dimers |
| title | Elevated Plasma Reelin Levels in Children With Autism |
| title_full | Elevated Plasma Reelin Levels in Children With Autism |
| title_fullStr | Elevated Plasma Reelin Levels in Children With Autism |
| title_full_unstemmed | Elevated Plasma Reelin Levels in Children With Autism |
| title_short | Elevated Plasma Reelin Levels in Children With Autism |
| title_sort | elevated plasma reelin levels in children with autism |
| topic | reelin autism children enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay Western blotting dimers |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00242/full |
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