Maternal Mid-Gestation Cytokine Dysregulation in Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
S Casey, M Carter, A M Looney and 9 others
PMID 34505185WHAT IT FOUND
Mothers of children later diagnosed with autism had lower levels of the immune marker IL-17A at 20 weeks of pregnancy.
This difference disappeared at 15 weeks once folate intake was accounted for. The study was too small to confirm IL-17A as a reliable early warning sign.
Key findings
01IL-17A levels were significantly lower in mothers of children with ASD at both 15 and 20 weeks gestation compared to controls.
02After adjusting for folate intake, the association between IL-17A and ASD risk was no longer significant at 15 weeks but remained significant at 20 weeks.
03Seven other cytokines, including IL-6 and MCP-1, showed no significant differences between mothers of children with ASD and controls at either time point.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The sample size was very small, with only 25 cases and 38 controls, making the results unstable. Many blood samples were excluded due to poor quality or low detection levels, which reduced the data further. The final groups were not well matched, with a much higher percentage of male cases compared to controls. The diagnosis method differed between sites, with more detailed clinical confirmation in Ireland and parent report in New Zealand. The study could not determine if the low IL-17A levels were a cause of ASD or just a side effect of other pregnancy factors. The results did not replicate findings from previous studies that looked at different immune markers.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the Irish Research Council, National Children's Research Centre, Health Research Board, Science Foundation Ireland, Health Research Council of New Zealand, and University College Cork. No specific conflicts of interest were declared in the text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use low IL-17A levels as a screening tool for autism risk. The sample size was tiny, many samples were lost to testing errors, and the association at 15 weeks disappeared when accounting for folate intake. This is a hypothesis-generating finding, not a validated biomarker.