Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who exhibit chronic gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and marked fluctuation of behavioral symptoms exhibit distinct innate immune abnormalities and transcriptional profiles of peripheral blood (PB) monocytes

Innate/adaptive immune responses and transcript profiles of peripheral blood monocytes were studied in ASD children who exhibit fluctuating behavioral symptoms following infection and other immune insults (ASD/Inf, N = 30). The ASD/Inf children with persistent gastrointestinal symptoms (ASD/Inf + GI, N = 19), revealed less production of proinflammatory and counter-regulatory cytokines with stimuli of innate immunity and marked changes in transcript profiles of monocytes as compared to ASD/no-Inf (N = 28) and normal (N = 26) controls. This included a 4-5 fold up-regulation of chemokines (CCL2 and CCL7), consistent with the production of more CCL2 by ASD/Inf + GI cells. These results indicate dysregulated innate immune defense in the ASD/Inf + GI children, rendering them more vulnerable to common microbial infection/dysbiosis and possibly subsequent behavioral changes.