Autism Studies and Related Medical Conditions, January 2009 - TACA

parents report either that their child was abnormal from birth, or that their child
was developmentally normal until sometime after birth, at which time the child
began to regress or deteriorate. Anecdotal reports suggest that some children
with autism have significant illness or clinical events prior to the development of
autistic symptoms. Conceivably, these children may become autistic from
neuronal cell death or brain damage sometime after birth as result of insult. To
support this theory is that marked Purkinje cell loss, the most consistent finding
in the autistic disorder, can result from insult. Evidence suggests that the
Purkinje cell is selectively vulnerable. This article discusses a theory that the
selective vulnerability of the Purkinje cell may play a role in the etiology of
autism, and suggests that a future direction in autism research may be to
investigate the possibility of neuronal cell loss from insult as a cause of autism.
Results of a small pilot survey are also discussed.
Kirkman, N. J., J. E. Libbey, et al. (2008). "How Relevant are GFAP Autoantibodies in
Autism and Tourette Syndrome?" J Autism Dev Disord 38(2): 333-41.
Controversy exists over the role of autoantibodies to central nervous system
antigens in autism and Tourette Syndrome. We investigated plasma
autoantibody titers to glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in children with classic
onset (33) and regressive onset (26) autism, controls (25, healthy age- and
gender-matched) and individuals with Tourette Syndrome (24) by enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assays. We found a significant difference in autoantibody titers
to GFAP, not accounted for by age, between the Tourette (significantly lower)
and regressive autism groups. However, no differences were found between:
classic/regressive; classic/controls; classic/Tourette; regressive/controls; or
controls/Tourette. Autoantibody responses against GFAP are unlikely to play a
pathogenic role in autism or Tourette Syndrome.
Kozlovskaia, G. V., T. P. Kliushnik, et al. (2000). "[Nerve growth factor auto-antibodies
in children with various forms of mental dysontogenesis and in schizophrenia high risk
group]." Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova 100(3): 50-2.
The level of autoantibodies (AAb) to nerve growth factor was evaluated in blood
serum of 163 children with different forms of mental dysontogenesis of
endogenic, residual-organic, psychogenic and deprivative origin. Significant
elevation of the level of AAb was found in all forms of psychic dysontogenesis.
The most significant elevation of the level of AAb (p < 0.01), as compared with
the controls (45 children), was characteristic for endogenic forms of
dysontogenesis (schizophrenia, early children's autism, schizotypic diathesis).
The level of AAb was also found as an indicator of the acuteness of the
pathologic state. Besides, its elevation was observed 1-2 weeks prior to the
onset of the clinical exacerbation. Elevation of AAb level was also found in
psychic dysontogenesis of residual-organic nature (children with perinatal
encephalopathy), but it was not so significant as compared with the controls (p
< 0.05%). The analysis in the age dynamics of children from this group
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