Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2024 Jun 24:15:1333717.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1333717. eCollection 2024.

Autism spectrum disorder and a possible role of anti-inflammatory treatments: experience in the pediatric allergy/immunology clinic

Affiliations
Review

Autism spectrum disorder and a possible role of anti-inflammatory treatments: experience in the pediatric allergy/immunology clinic

Harumi Jyonouchi. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD1) is a behaviorally defined syndrome encompassing a markedly heterogeneous patient population. Many ASD subjects fail to respond to the 1st line behavioral and pharmacological interventions, leaving parents to seek out other treatment options. Evidence supports that neuroinflammation plays a role in ASD pathogenesis. However, the underlying mechanisms likely vary for each ASD patient, influenced by genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors. Although anti-inflammatory treatment measures, mainly based on metabolic changes and oxidative stress, have provided promising results in some ASD subjects, the use of such measures requires the careful selection of ASD subjects based on clinical and laboratory findings. Recent progress in neuroscience and molecular immunology has made it possible to allow re-purposing of currently available anti-inflammatory medications, used for autoimmune and other chronic inflammatory conditions, as treatment options for ASD subjects. On the other hand, emerging anti-inflammatory medications, including biologic and gate-keeper blockers, exert powerful anti-inflammatory effects on specific mediators or signaling pathways. It will require both a keen understanding of the mechanisms of action of such agents and the careful selection of ASD patients suitable for each treatment. This review will attempt to summarize the use of anti-inflammatory agents already used in targeting ASD patients, and then emerging anti-inflammatory measures applicable for ASD subjects based on scientific rationale and clinical trial data, if available. In our experience, some ASD patients were treated under diagnoses of autoimmune/autoinflammatory conditions and/or post-infectious neuroinflammation. However, there are little clinical trial data specifically for ASD subjects. Therefore, these emerging immunomodulating agents for potential use for ASD subjects will be discussed based on preclinical data, case reports, or data generated in patients with other medical conditions. This review will hopefully highlight the expanding scope of immunomodulating agents for treating neuroinflammation in ASD subjects.

Keywords: ASD (autism spectrum disorder); COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019); biologics; immunomodulating agents; neuroinflammation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Similar articles

References

    1. Zawadzka A, Cieslik M, Adamczyk A. The role of maternal immune activation in the pathogenesis of autism: A review of the evidence, proposed mechanisms and implications for treatment. Int J Mol Sci. (2021) 22. doi: 10.3390/ijms222111516 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ornoy A, Weinstein-Fudim L, Ergaz Z. Prenatal factors associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Reprod Toxicol. (2015) 56:155–69. doi: 10.1016/j.reprotox.2015.05.007 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Massrali A, Adhya D, Srivastava DP, Baron-Cohen S, Kotter MR. Virus-induced maternal immune activation as an environmental factor in the etiology of autism and schizophrenia. Front Neurosci. (2022) 16:834058. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.834058 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Vargas DL, Nascimbene C, Krishnan C, Zimmerman AW, Pardo CA. Neuroglial activation and neuroinflammation in the brain of patients with autism. Ann Neurol. (2005) 57:67–81. doi: 10.1002/ana.20315 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Jiang HY, Xu LL, Shao L, Xia RM, Yu ZH, Ling ZX, et al. . Maternal infection during pregnancy and risk of autism spectrum disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Brain Behav Immun. (2016) 58:165–72. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2016.06.005 - DOI - PubMed

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work is partly funded by the Jonty Foundation, St. Paul, MN, the Brain Foundation, Pleasanton, CA, and O’Sullivan Foundation, Princeton, NJ.

LinkOut - more resources