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Antibodies to Myelin Basic Protein in Children with Autistic Behavior

https://doi.org/10.1006/brbi.1993.1010Get rights and content

Abstract

Based on a possible pathological relationship of autoimmunity to autism, antibodies reactive with myelin basic protein (anti-MBP) were investigated in the sera of autistic children. Using a screening serum dilution of 1:400 in the protein-immunoblotting technique, approximately 58% (19 of 33) sera of autistic children (≤10 years of age) were found to be positive for anti-MBP. This result in autistics was significantly (p ≤ .0001) different from the controls (8 of 88 or only 9% positive), which included age-matched children with normal health, idiopathic mental retardation (MR) and Down syndrome (DS), and normal adults of 20 to 40 years of age. Since autism is a syndrome of unknown etiology, it is possible that anti-MBP antibodies are associated with the development of autistic behavior.

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