Cerebrospinal fluid insulin‐like growth factors IGF‐1 and IGF‐2 in infantile autism

There has been little exploration of major biologic regulators of cerebral development in autism. We measured insulin‐like growth factors (IGF) ‐1 and ‐2 from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by radio immunoassay in 25 children with autism (median age 5y 5mo; range 1y 11mo‐15y 10mo; 20 males, 5 females), and in 16 age‐matched comparison children without disability (median age 7y 4mo; range 1y 1mo‐15y 2mo; eight males, eight females). IGF‐1 and ‐2 concentrations were further correlated with age of patients and head size. CSF IGF‐1 concentration was significantly lower in patients with autism than in the comparison group. The CSF concentrations of children with autism under 5 years of age were significantly lower than their age‐matched comparisons. The head circumferences correlated with CSF IGF‐1 in children with autism but no such correlation was found in the comparison group. There was no difference between the two groups in CSF IGF‐2 concentrations. No patients with autism had macrocephaly. We conclude that low concentrations of CSF IGF‐1 at an early age might be linked with the pathogenesis in autism because IGF‐1 is important for the survival of Purkinje cells of the cerebellum. The head growth might be explained by the actions of IGF‐1 and ‐2 reflected in CSF concentrations.

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