Original article

Neonatal levels of neurotrophic factors and risk of autism spectrum disorders

  1. M. W. Abdallah1,2,3,*,
  2. E. L. Mortensen4,
  3. K. Greaves-Lord5,6,
  4. N. Larsen2,
  5. E. C. Bonefeld-Jørgensen7,
  6. B. Nørgaard-Pedersen2,
  7. D. M. Hougaard2,
  8. J. Grove8

Article first published online: 5 OCT 2012

DOI: 10.1111/acps.12020

Issue

Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica

Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica

Volume 128, Issue 1, pages 61–69, July 2013

Additional Information

How to Cite

Abdallah MW, Mortensen EL, Greaves-Lord K, Larsen N, Bonefeld-Jørgensen EC, Nørgaard-Pedersen B, Hougaard DM, Grove J. Neonatal levels of neurotrophic factors and risk of autism spectrum disorders.

Author Information

  1. 1

    Section for Epidemiology, HEALTH, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

  2. 2

    Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Immunology, Statens Serum Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark

  3. 3

    Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Rostock University Hospital, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany

  4. 4

    Institute of Public Health and Center for Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

  5. 5

    Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus MC – Sophia's Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

  6. 6

    Yulius Academie & Yulius Autisme, Yulius, Dordrecht, the Netherlands

  7. 7

    Center for Arctic Environmental Medicine & Unit of Cellular and Molecular Toxicology, HEALTH, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

  8. 8

    Department of Biomedicine, HEALTH, Aarhus University and Bioinformatics Research Centre (BiRC), Aarhus, Denmark

* Morsi W. Abdallah, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Rostock University Hospital, University of Rostock, Gehlsheimer Straße 20, 18147 Rostock, Germany.
E-mail: morsi.abdallah@med.uni-rostock.de

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 9 JUN 2013
  2. Article first published online: 5 OCT 2012
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 4 SEP 2012

Funded by

  • Statens Serum Institute (SSI). Grant Number: 271-05-0523/09-060179
  • Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Immunology. Grant Number: 271-05-0523/09-060179
  • University of Copenhagen
  • Danish Historic Birth Cohort
  • SSI Luminex Lab
  • Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen
  • The Danish Medical Research Foundation
  • The Danish Ministry of the Interior and Health. Grant Number: 271-05-0523/09-060179
  • Aarhus University Faculty of Health Sciences
  • Statens Serum Institute. Grant Number: 494028

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Keywords:

  • autistic disorder;
  • neurotrophins;
  • newborn;
  • population registers

Objective

To examine levels of 3 neurotrophic factors (NTFs): Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), Neurotrophin-4 (NT-4), and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) in dried blood spot samples of neonates diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) later in life and frequency-matched controls.

Method

Biologic samples were retrieved from the Danish Newborn Screening Biobank. NTFs for 414 ASD cases and 820 controls were measured using Luminex technology. Associations were analyzed with continuous measures (Tobit regression) as well as dichotomized at the lower and upper 10th percentiles cutoff points derived from the controls' distributions (logistic regression).

Results

ASD cases were more likely to have BDNF levels falling in the lower 10th percentile (odds ratios [OR], 1.53 [95% confidence intervals (CI), 1.04–2.24], P-value = 0.03). Similar pattern was seen for TGF-β in females with ASD (OR, 2.36 [95% CI, 1.05–5.33], P-value = 0.04). For NT-4, however, ASD cases diagnosed with ICD-10 only were less likely to have levels in upper 10th percentile compared with controls (OR, 0.22 [95% CI, 0.05–0.98], P-value = 0.05).

Conclusion

Results cautiously indicate decreased NTFs levels during neonatal period in ASD. This may contribute to the pathophysiology of ASD through impairments of neuroplasticity. Further research is required to confirm our results and to examine the potential therapeutic effects of NTFs in ASD.

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