Thursday, May 15, 2008
Champagne Terrace/Bordeaux (Novotel London West)
11:30 AM
H. Matsuzaki
,
The Osaka-Hamamatsu Joint Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan
Y. Iwata
,
Psychiatry and Neurology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan
K. J. Tsuchiya
,
The Osaka-Hamamatsu Joint Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan
G. Sugihara
,
The Osaka-Hamamatsu Joint Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan
S. Suda
,
Psychiatry and Neurology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan
K. Suzuki
,
Psychiatry and Neurology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan
T. Miyachi
,
The Osaka-Hamamatsu Joint Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan
K. Matsumoto
,
The Osaka-Hamamatsu Joint Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan
K. Nakamura
,
Psychiatry and Neurology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan
M. Kawai
,
Psychiatry and Neurology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan
M. Tsujii
,
The Osaka-Hamamatsu Joint Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan
T. Sugiyama
,
Aichi Chilren's Health and Medical Center, Obu, Japan
N. Takei
,
The Osaka-Hamamatsu Joint Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan
N. Mori
,
Psychiatry and Neurology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan
Background: The neurobiological basis for autism remains poorly understood. Given the role of growth factors in brain development, we hypothesized that some growth factors may play a role in the pathophysiology of autism. Objectives: In this study, we examined whether serum levels of Epidermal growth factor (EGF), Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), Insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), Transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) are altered in adult subjects with high-functioning autism, and analyzed correlations between serum levels of each growth factor and clinical variables, i.e. Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R), Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), Aggression Quessionaire (AQ), Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R), Faux Pas test, etc.
Methods: We measured serum levels of EGF, HGF, IGF-1 and TGF-β1 in the 17 male subjects with high-functioning autism and 18 age-matched healthy male subjects by using ELISA kits. The data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test. Among subjects with autism, relationships between serum levels of each growth factor and clinical variables were determined by Pearson or Spearman correlations. The diagnosis of autism was made on the basis of the ADI-R and the DSM-IV.
Results: The serum levels of EGF (mean ± SD = 72.4 ± 102.8 pg/mL), HGF (503.5 ± 160.5 pg/mL), TGF-β1 (7.34 ± 5.21 ng/mL) in the subjects with high-functioning autism were significantly lower (p < 0.001) than those (mean ± SD = 322.3 ± 122.0 pg/mL [EGF], 817.6 ± 232.4 pg/mL [HGF], 14.48 ± 1.64 ng/mL [TGF-β1]) of normal control subjects, respectively. However, serum levels of IGF-1 did not differ between groups. There were no correlations between serum levels of any growth factor and clinical variables in the subjects with autism.
Conclusions: This study suggests that decreased levels of EGF, HGF and TGF-β1 might be implicated in the pathophysiology of high-functioning autism.
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