Many people say that "every
child with Autism is different".
Children with autism
may have different
behaviors and medical symptoms, but the root cause
for all their problems is the same.
Autistic children suffer from chronic autoimmune
diseases/dysfunction. The autoimmune
diseases/dysfunction causes
inflammation in their body organs, for example,
their brains and digestive systems. The
autoimmune diseases/dysfunction also leave them exposed to
many viral infections such as HHV-6 for which
almost every child with autism suffer from.
(The HHV-6 infection can be diagnosed by brain
functional imaging or blood). Once their
digestive systems gets affected by inflammation,
then their metabolic system is altered, they
don't produce enough glutathione and the oxidative
stress levels increase causing accummulation of
heavy metals. Due to their
dysfunctional immune systems, many also suffer
from food allergies. That is why some
autistic children see improvements when put in
special diets. Not all children improve
with a strict diet regime, because allergies is
only one part of the problem.
It
is VERY important to realize that because a
child with autism does not have all the symptoms
that every other children with autism has, it
doesn't mean that the child does not suffer from
an autoimmune disease.
The only fact that
it is true for every child with regressive
autism is that they suffer from autoimmune
disease/dysfunction that led to brain
inflammation which caused the autistic symptoms.
Here is a
list of autoimmune
diseases. Remember, a person
only needs to have one of the diseases in this
list to have an autoimmune disease.
Below is graph that includes the most common symptoms
that children with autism suffer from. All
those symptoms are only possible if the person
has a dysfunctional immune system.
Click on the
circles to see more detail information about the
symptoms.
Allergies are
disorders of
the immune system
Cancer.gov presentation
People with autism are more
susceptible to allergies and food sensitivities
than the average person; and
this is likely due
to their impaired immune system.
Autism.org
article
Recent advances in the role
of natural killer cells in allergic diseases and
asthma.
PubMed article
Perturbations of natural
killer cell regulatory functions in respiratory
allergic diseases.
PubMed article
Food Allergies
What is a food
allergy?
foodallergy.org
article
“A food allergy, or
hypersensitivity, is an abnormal response to a
food triggered by the immune system.”
When Food Becomes
the Enemy
MedicineNet article
“A food allergy, or
hypersensitivity, is an abnormal response to a
food triggered by the immune system.”
Eczema
is an autoimmune
disease in a form of dermatitis, or
inflammation of the epidermis. The term eczema
is broadly applied to a range of persistent skin
conditions. These include dryness and recurring
skin rashes that are characterized by one or
more of these symptoms: redness, skin edema
(swelling), itching and dryness, crusting,
flaking, blistering, cracking, oozing, or
bleeding.
Vitiligo is a chronic
autoimmune disorder
that causes depigmentation in patches of skin.
Autism and metabolic diseases
PubMed Article
Several metabolic defects have been associated with autistic symptoms with a rate higher than that found in the general population.
Plasma leptin levels are
elevated in autism PubMed
Article
There is evidence
of both immune dysregulation and autoimmune
phenomena in children with autism spectrum
disorders (ASD).
Leptin is a protein hormone that plays a key role
in regulating energy intake and energy
expenditure, including appetite and metabolism.
Wikipedia definition
A role for leptin in the
systemic inflammatory response syndrome and in
immune response.
PubMed article
Leptin in the regulation of
immunity, inflammation, and hematopoiesis.
PubMed article
Leptin Abnormality
Leads to Metabolic Disorders Associated
Content
High levels of
leptin result in hyperleptinaemia which then
promotes the development of obesity, metabolic
disorders and the development of cardiovascular
disease.
Brain inflammation
is a sign of autism
News Medical article
Researchers examined brain tissue from 11
people with autism, aged 5 to 44 years, who
had died of accidents or injuries.
Compared
with normal control brains, the brains of
the people with autism featured immune
system activation and inflammation in the
brain.
Inflammation and
epilepsy
PubMed article
Inflammatory processes, such as the
production of proinflammatory cytokines and
related molecules, have been described in
brain after seizures induced in
experimental models and in clinical cases of
epilepsy.
Absence of seizures
despite high prevalence of epileptiform EEG
abnormalities in children with autism monitored
in a tertiary care center.
PubMed article
CONCLUSIONS:
Video-EEG evaluation of children with autism
reveals epileptiform EEG abnormalities in the
majority.
Innate Immunity and
Inflammation in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy
PubMed article,
American Epilepsy Society link
The
parallel validation of experimental and human
tissue findings confirms and expands previous
evidence indicating the occurrence of a complex,
chronic inflammation involving the innate immune
system in TLE and in other epilepsies or
epileptic syndromes of different etiology.
Reduced NK cell activity in
autistic
children compared with controls
Journal of Leukocyte Biology link
Reduced Natural Killer Cell Activity in
Autism
Journal of the American Academy of Child &
Adolescent Psychiatry link
Altered NK activity
is often associated with autoimmune disorders
Regulation of
autoimmune disease by Natural Killer
Cells
SpringerLink article
NKT cells are
reduced in number and function in autoimmune
disease prone mice and humans.
Natural killer cells
(or NK cells) are a type of cytotoxic
lymphocyte that
constitute a major component of the innate
immune system. NK cells play a major role
in the rejection of tumors and cells infected by
viruses.
Wikipedia definition
Abnormalities in NK
cells may represent a susceptibility factor in
ASD
PubMed article
Glutathione is an antioxidant,
helps protect cells from reactive oxygen species
such as free radicals and peroxides.
University of Texas
Southwestern Medical Center Glutathione Study
Medical News article
Plasma glutathione has been
found to be lower in children with autism,
particularly, in children with autism who have
regressed.
Detoxification and Free
Radical Damage in Autoimmune Diseases
WellSphere article
Glutathione
deficiency has been found to be virtually
universal in autoimmune diseases.
Glutathione and
lymphocyte activation: a function of ageing and
autoimmune disease.
PubMed Article
Glutathione and immune
function
PubMed Article
The immune system
works best if the lymphoid cells have a
delicately balanced intermediate level of
glutathione.
Natural
killer cells, glutathione, cytokines, and innate
immunity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
PubMed Article
Natural Killer cell functions are
dependent on adequate levels of glutathione.
Evidence of toxicity,
oxidative stress, and neuronal insult in autism.
PubMed article
Oxidative
stress and apoptosis in immune diseases.
PubMed article
Oxidative stress is
also involved in immune diseases.
Reactive Oxygen Species
“free radicals”
(ROS) excess and deficiency of antioxidants lead
to cell death and virus activation. ROS produced at sites of
chronic inflammation, have genotoxic effects.
Oxygen free radicals and
systemic autoimmunity
PubMed article
It
has been suggested that abnormal immunity is
related to oxidative imbalance and
antioxidant functions are linked to
anti-inflammatory and/or immunosuppressive
properties
Yeast Infections
Medline Plus article
Candida is
the scientific name for yeast. It is a fungus
that lives almost everywhere, including in your
body. Usually, your immune system keeps yeast
under control. If you are sick or taking
antibiotics, it can multiply and cause an
infection.
Allergy and immunity to
fungal infections and colonization.
PubMed article
Nonspecific
cellular immunity, mediated by macrophages,
neutrophils and natural killer cells, provides
efficient protection against fungal infections
in healthy individuals.
PANDAS, is an abbreviation for
Pediatric
Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders
Associated with Streptococcal Infections.
Elevated levels of measles
antibodies in children with autism
ScienceDirect article
Thus autistic
children have a hyperimmune response to
measles virus, which in the absence
of a wild type of measles infection might be
a sign of an abnormal immune reaction to the
vaccine strain or virus reactivation.
Serological
Association of Measles Virus and Human
Herpesvirus-6 with Brain Autoantibodies in
Autism. ScienceDirect
article
“This
study is the first to report an association
between virus serology and brain autoantibody in
autism; it supports
the hypothesis that a virus-induced autoimmune
response may play a causal role in autism.”
Human Herpes virus 6: An
Emerging Pathogen
CDC Article
“The epidemiologic and clinical investigations
summarized here establish a clear correlation
between HHV-6B primary infection and exanthem
subitum and between HHV-6 infection/reactivation
and a number of pathologic conditions in
immunocompromised patients.”
Investigation
of The Presence of HHV-6 In Patients With Immune
Deficiency
Journal of Infectious Diseases
article
“Immunosuppression may increase the frequency of
HHV-6 related primary infection or reactivation
in patients.”
Association
of Human Herpes virus Type 6 with Mesial
Temporal Lobe epilepsy.
SpringerLink article
“Many disorders of the central nervous system
(CNS) have been linked to HHV-6 reactivation,
including chronic seizure disorders,
encephalitis,
and demyelinating disorders including multiple
sclerosis.”
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