Objective To investigate the expression levels and clinical significance of absolute counts of lymphocyte subsets and immunoglobulins (Ig) in peripheral blood of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Methods Seventy-five children with ASD were selected as study group, and another 75 healthy children who underwent physical examination were selected as control group. Flow cytometry was used to detect the absolute counts of lymphocyte subsets (CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD19+, CD56+CD16+) and IgA, IgG, IgM levels in peripheral blood of both groups of children. Pearson correlation analysis was used to explore the correlation between each detection index and the total score of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS).
Results The number of absolute counts of CD3+ and CD4+ in the study group were (62.49±8.71) and (34.87±7.86) in one μL, respectively, which were separately lower than (67.73±5.11) and (39.56±4.60)in one μL in the control group (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in the absolute counts of CD8+, CD19+, CD56+CD16+ between the two groups (P>0.05). The levels of IgA, IgG, IgM in the study group were (0.79±0.33), (8.39±2.03), (0.95±0.27), respectively, which were lower than (0.94±0.29), (9.28±1.37), (1.16±0.39) in the control group (P < 0.05). Pearson correlation analysis showed that IgA level was significantly negatively correlated with CARS total score (r= -0.317, P=0.034), while the absolute counts of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD19+, CD56+CD16+ and IgG, IgM levels had no correlation with CARS total score (P>0.05).
Conclusion Abnormal expression levels of lymphocyte subsets and Ig-mediated immune dysfunction are closely related to the occurrence of ASD in children. CD3+, CD4+, IgA, IgG, and IgM can be used as potential biological indicators for screening the immunological etiology of ASD in children, and IgA can be used as an indicator for evaluating the efficacy of ASD children with immunological etiology.
DownLoad: