Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 14, 2026
Dynamic Clamp Methods to Investigate Impaired Neuronal Excitability Associated with Autism
Published on: October 17, 2025
Elevated cytokine levels in children with autism spectrum disorder
Cynthia A Molloy1, Ardythe L Morrow, Jareen Meinzen-Derr
1Center for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, and Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45229-3039, United States. cynthia.molloy@cchmc.org
Unlabelled:
This study compared production of IL-2, IFN-gamma, IL-4, IL-13, IL-5 and IL-10 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 20 children with autism spectrum disorder to those from matched controls. Levels of all Th2 cytokines were significantly higher in cases after incubation in media alone, but the IFN-gamma/IL-13 ratio was not significantly different between cases and controls. Cases had significantly higher IL-13/IL-10 and IFN-gamma/IL-10 than controls.
Conclusion:
Children with ASD had increased activation of both Th2 and Th1 arms of the adaptive immune response, with a Th2 predominance, and without the compensatory increase in the regulatory cytokine IL-10.
