Table 1.
A summary of studies of cytokine levels in individuals with autism spectrum disorder.
| Cytokine/ chemokine tested |
Change detected in cytokine/chemokine levels in patients with ASD |
Tissue source | Method | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Th1-associated cytokines | ||||
| IFNγ | Increased | CSF, brain tissue, whole blood, plasma and cultured PBMCs | Luminex and ELISA | [11,63,64,66,67] |
| IFNγ | No change | Plasma | ELISA | [69] |
| IFNγ + T-cells | Decreased | Cultured PBMCs | Flow cytometry | [65] |
| IL-12 | Increased | Plasma | ELISA | [11] |
| IL-2 | Increased | Serum and cultured PBMCs | ELISA | [8,66] |
| IL-2 | No Change | Brain tissue | Luminex | [63] |
| IL-2 + T-cells | Decreased | Cultured PBMCs | Flow cytometry | [65] |
| Acute inflammatory cytokines | ||||
| IL-1β | Increased | Brain tissue and stimulated PBMCs | Luminex and ELISA | [63,115] |
| IL-1β | No change | Plasma | ELISA | [69] |
| IL-6 | Increased | CSF, brain tissue and cultured PBMCs | Luminex and ELISA | [63,64,67,115] |
| IL-6 | No change | Plasma, serum and cultured PBMCs | ELISA and flow cytometry | [7,11,65] |
| TNFα | Increased | Brain tissue and cultured PBMCs | Luminex and ELISA | [63,67,115] |
| TNFα | No change | Plasma | ELISA | [11,69] |
| TNFRI | Increased | Stimulated PBMCs | ELISA | [115] |
| TNFRII | Increased | Stimulated PBMCs and serum | ELISA | [7,115] |
| IL-8 | Increased | CSF and brain tissue | Luminex | [63,64] |
| MCP-1 | Increased | CSF and brain tissue | Luminex and ELISA | [64] |
| MIP-1β | Increased | CSF | Luminex | [64] |
| TGFβ | Increased | Brain tissue | Luminex and ELISA | [64] |
| TGFβ | Decreased | Plasma | ELISA | [70,71] |
| GM-CSF | Increased | Brain tissue | Luminex | [63] |
| Th2-associated cytokines | ||||
| IL-4 | Increased | Cultured PBMCs | ELISA and flow cytometry | [66,65] |
| IL-4 | No change | Brain tissue | Luminex | [63] |
| IL-5 | Increased | Cultured PBMCs | ELISA | [63,66] |
| IL-5 | No change | Brain tissue | Luminex | [63] |
| IL-10 | No change | Brain tissue and cultured PBMCs | Luminex, ELISA and flow cytometry | [63,65,66] |
| IL-13 | Increased | Cultured PBMCs | ELISA | [66] |
Four studies were excluded from this table because children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that were recruited in these excluded studies experienced gastrointestinal symptoms, which may confound cytokine results [9,12,68,116].
MCP-1 monocyte chemotactic protein 1, MIP-1β macrophage inflammatory protein 1β, TNFRI TNF receptor 1, TNFRII TNF receptor II