Antibody-related epidemiologic analysis

To find out whether autism is antibody-related and regionally dependent, we reviewed the literature in Pubmed to study the relationship between antibody and autoimmune diseases in East Asian populations. A China's epidemiological survey shows that the prevalence of ASD is between 0.2% and 0.4%, and the differences in geographical and clinical diagnostic criteria may have different effects on the study of ASD etiology. Multiple epidemiological investigations have shown that the antibody levels of patients with ASD are significantly higher than those of healthy controls.

We believe that the reasons for the project are as follows

Reason One

Nearly 50 years ago, an association of autism with congenital rubella infection was noted, and in the intervening years numerous other infections have been connected to the incidence of ASD. Since that time, mounting evidence for the ability of the immune system and abnormal immune function, including inflammation, cytokine dysregulation, and anti-brain autoantibodies, to act as a significant influence on ASD has prompted researchers to look more closely at the potential role of immune dysregulation and autoimmunity in ASD. 

Reason Two

Then we reviewed dozens of high-score articles on autoimmune diseases and autoantibodies, meta analyzed the data of different articles, and drew forest maps. The results showed that they were statistically significant. Therefore, three autoantibodies, GM1, MBP and GAD, are anchored.

Concrete Data

(1)Autistic children had significantly higher serum levels of anti-MBP auto-antibodies than healthy controls, P < 0.001. According to the highest cut-off value of serum anti-MBP auto-antibodies, increased serum levels were found in 80% (40/50) of autistic patients.

(2)The significantly increased levels of anti-ganglioside GM1 IgG antibody observed in our cohort of children with autism may play a role in their cognitive dysfunction and behavioral challenges. This was supported by the significantly higher levels of SA and anti-ganglioside GM1 antibody detected in severe cases with autism as compared to mild to moderate ones.

(3) We can observe that people with autism have higher levels of anti-MBP than normal.Serum anti-GAD antibodies were at detectable levels in five (20.8%) patients with autistic regression, of whom three had 2 to 4-fold increased titers, and in none of the patients with classical ASD. The age of the father at the patient’s birth and the duration of autistic regression correlated with anti-GAD IgG levels (P: 0,045, P: 0.855 respectively) in the ASD-regression group. No other antibodies were detected in either group.

Therefore, we finally chose anti-GM1,anti-MBP and anti-GAD as our target antibodies. Multiple literature as well as epidemiologic survey data supported our view.