Abstract
•We investigated the possible role of CD45+ cells in children with ASD.•Increased GM-CSF mRNA/protein expression in children with ASD.•CD45 cells producing pro-inflammatory cytokines significantly increased in ASD.•Regulated transcription-factor production in CD45+ cells of ASD children.•Regulation of CD45+ cells could be a therapeutic option for ASD.
Autismspectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex and multifactorial heterogeneous disorder. Previous investigations have revealed the association between the immune system and ASD, which is characterized by impaired communication skills. Inflammatory response through CD45 cells plays a key role in the pathogenesis of several autoimmune disorders; however, the molecular mechanism of CD45 cells in ASD is not clearly defined.In this study, we investigated the role of CD45 signaling in children with ASD. In this study, we aimed to investigate the possible involvement of CD45 cells expressing granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and inflammatory transcription factors in ASD. Flow cytometric analysis, using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), revealed the numbers of GM-CSF-, IFN-γ-, IL-6-, IL-9-, IL-22-, T-bet-, pStat3-, Helios-, and Stat6-producing CD45+ cells in children with ASD and children in the control group. We further evaluated the mRNA and protein expression levels of GM-CSF in PBMC by RT-PCR and western blotting analysis. Our results revealed that the children with ASD exhibited significantly higher numbers of CD45+GM-CSF+, CD45+IFN-γ+, CD45+IL-6+, CD45+IL-9+, CD45+IL-22+, CD45+T-bet+, and CD45+pStat3+ cells compared with the control group. We also found that the children with ASD showed a lower number of CD45+Helios+ and CD45+Stat6+ cells compared with the control group. Furthermore, the children with ASD showed higher GM-CSF mRNA and protein expression levels compared with the control group. These results indicated that CD45 could play an essential role in the immune abnormalities of ASD. Further investigation of the role of CD45 in neurodevelopment in ASD is warranted.