ArticleJournal of psychiatric research2017
Initial analysis of peripheral lymphocytic extracellular signal related kinase activation in autism.
Article in Journal of psychiatric research, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Cross-Over Pilot Study of Riluzole for Drug-Refractory Irritability in Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2018Trial
- Effects of exercise on behavior and hippocampal neuroinflammation in rat model of autism spectrum disorder.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- The Significance of Serum Immunoglobulin Concentrations in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: In Search of Potential Blood Biomarkers.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Growth-suppressor microRNAs mediate synaptic overgrowth and behavioral deficits in Fragile X mental retardation protein deficiency.iScience · 2024Article
- Autism-associated biomarkers: test-retest reliability and relationship to quantitative social trait variation in rhesus monkeys.Molecular autism · 2021Article
- Glutamate and GABA in autism spectrum disorder-a translational magnetic resonance spectroscopy study in man and rodent models.Translational psychiatry · 2018Article
- Maternal IL-17A in autism.Experimental neurology · 2018Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDysregulation of extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) activity has been potentially implicated in the pathophysiology of autistic disorder (autism). ERK is part of a central intracellular signaling cascade responsible for a myriad of cellular functions. ERK is expressed in peripheral blood lymphocytes, and measurement of activated (phosphorylated) lymphocytic ERK is commonly executed in many areas of medicine. We sought to conduct the first study of ERK activation in humans with autism by utilizing a lymphocytic ERK activation assay. We hypothesized that ERK activation would be enhanced in peripheral blood lymphocytes from persons with autism compared to those of neurotypical control subjects.
methodWe conducted an initial study of peripheral lymphocyte ERK activation in 45 subjects with autism and 26 age- and gender-matched control subjects (total n = 71). ERK activation was measured using a lymphocyte counting method (primary outcome expressed as lymphocytes staining positive for cytosolic phosphorylated ERK divided by total cells counted) and additional Western blot analysis of whole cell phosphorylated ERK adjusted for total ERK present in the lymphocyte lysate sample.
resultsCytosolic/nuclear localization of pERK activated cells were increased by almost two-fold in the autism subject group compared to matched neurotypical control subjects (cell count ratio of 0.064 ± 0.044 versus 0.034 ± 0.031; p = 0.002). Elevated phosphorylated ERK levels in whole cell lysates also showed increased activated ERK in the autism group compared to controls (n = 54 total) in Western blot analysis.
conclusionsThe results of this first in human ERK activation study are consistent with enhanced peripheral lymphocytic ERK activation in autism, as well as suggesting that cellular compartmentalization of activated ERK may be altered in this disorder. Future work will be required to explore the impact of concomitant medication use and other subject characteristics such as level of cognitive functioning on ERK activation.
trial registrationNot applicable.
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