Naik, U. and Charitha, G. and Kanakalatha, A. and Balakrishna, N. and Niranjan, D. and Manna, S.K. (2011) A Study of Nuclear Transcription Factor-Kappa B in Childhood Autism. PLoS ONE, 6 (5). e19488. ISSN 1932-6203

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Several children with autism show regression in language and social development while maintaining normal motor milestones. A clear period of normal development followed by regression and subsequent improvement with treatment, suggests a multifactorial etiology. The role of inflammation in autism is now a major area of study. Viral and bacterial infections, hypoxia, or medication could affect both foetus and infant. These stressors could upregulate transcription factors like nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), a master switch for many genes including some implicated in autism like tumor necrosis factor (TNF). On this hypothesis, it was proposed to determine NF-κB in children with autism. METHODS: Peripheral blood samples of 67 children with autism and 29 control children were evaluated for NF-κB using electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). A phosphor imaging technique was used to quantify values. The fold increase over the control sample was calculated and statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS 15. RESULTS: We have noted significant increase in NF-κB DNA binding activity in peripheral blood samples of children with autism. When the fold increase of NF-κB in cases (n = 67) was compared with that of controls (n = 29), there was a significant difference (3.14 vs. 1.40, respectively; p<0.02). CONCLUSION: This finding has immense value in understanding many of the known biochemical changes reported in autism. As NF-κB is a response to stressors of several kinds and a master switch for many genes, autism may then arise at least in part from an NF-κB pathway gone awry.

Item Type:	Article
Depositing User:	Users 2 not found.
Date Deposited:	02 Sep 2015 06:09
Last Modified:	15 Dec 2015 10:08
URI:	http://cdfd.sciencecentral.in/id/eprint/441

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