Peripheral Blood S100B Levels in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Zhen Zheng, Peng Zheng, Xiaobing Zou
PMID 33006697WHAT IT FOUND
People with autism had higher peripheral blood S100B levels than controls across 10 studies of 822 people, but the link was not seen in plasma samples or in Chinese and Turkish studies.
Key findings
01The pooled analysis found higher peripheral blood S100B levels in people with autism than in healthy controls.
02The association was seen in serum samples but not plasma samples.
03The association was seen in studies from other countries but not in studies from China or Turkey.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The analysis combined cross-sectional and case-control studies, and only one case-control study was included, so study design may explain the inconsistent results. The studies showed very high inconsistency (I2 = 93%), and subgroup results differed by serum versus plasma and by country. The included studies had small samples, with sizes from 10 to 89 participants, and mean ages from 1.8 to 18 years, so the finding may not apply to all autism groups. The paper did not evaluate autism severity with S100B levels because few studies reported it. Because the studies were observational, they cannot show whether high S100B causes autism or results from it. BMI, leptin and adipose-related factors were not reported, so they may have affected the results. Different measurement units and assay methods produced a wide range of mean S100B values, which may reduce accuracy.
Declared interests
Funded by the National Science Foundation of China and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. The paper does not report author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use this as evidence that a blood test can diagnose autism or guide therapy. The studies were observational, showed very high inconsistency, and the paper states that there are no specific biomarkers for autism.