Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30149804›Full record

ArticleJournal of neuroinflammation2018

Extracellular vesicles are increased in the serum of children with autism spectrum disorder, contain mitochondrial DNA, and stimulate human microglia to secrete IL-1β.

Irene Tsilioni, Theoharis C Theoharides

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of neuroinflammation, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 78 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
78citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
4.2field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

78 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 120 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  4. Maternal Extracellular Vesicles During Pregnancy and Autism Risk in Children.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026
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  9. Therapeutic and diagnostic potential of extracellular vesicle (EV)-mediated intercellular transfer of mitochondria and mitochondrial components.Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism · 2026
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18 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Irene TsilioniDepartment of Immunology, Tufts University School of Medicine, 136 Harrison Avenue, Suite J304, Boston, MA, 02111, USA.
Theoharis C TheoharidesDepartment of Immunology, Tufts University School of Medicine, 136 Harrison Avenue, Suite J304, Boston, MA, 02111, USA. theoharis.theoharides@tufts.edu.
Tufts University · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been associated with brain inflammation as indicated by the activation of microglia, but the triggers are not known. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are secreted from many cells in the blood and other biological fluids and carry molecules that could influence the function of target cells. EVs have been recently implicated in several diseases, but their presence or function in ASD has not been studied.

methodsEVs were isolated from the serum of children with ASD (n = 20, 16 males and 4 females, 4-12 years old) and unrelated age and sex-matched normotypic controls (n = 8, 6 males and 2 females, 4-12 years old) using the exoEasy Qiagen kit. EVs were characterized by determining the CD9 and CD81 membrane-associated markers with Western blot analysis, while their morphology and size were assessed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Human microglia SV40 were cultured for 24 h and then stimulated with EVs (1 or 5 μg/mL), quantitated as total EV-associated protein, for 24 or 48 h. IL-1β secretion was measured by ELISA. The results were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U non-parametric test, and all statistical analyses were performed using Graph Pad Prism 5.

resultsEVs were isolated and shown to be spherical structures (about 100 nm) surrounded by a membrane. Total EV-associated protein was found to be significantly increased (p = 0.02) in patients as compared to normotypic controls. EVs (5 μg/mL) isolated from the serum of patients with ASD stimulated cultured human microglia to secrete significantly more of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin IL-1β (163.5 ± 13.34 pg/mL) as compared to the control (117.7 ± 3.96 pg/mL, p < 0.0001). The amount of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA7S) contained in EVs from children with ASD was found to be increased (p = 0.046) compared to the normotypic controls.

conclusionsThese findings provide novel information that may help explain what triggers inflammation in the brain of children with ASD and could lead to novel effective treatments.

Indexed as

Autism Spectrum DisorderCD8 AntigensCell LineChildChild, PreschoolDNA, MitochondrialDose-Response Relationship, DrugExtracellular VesiclesFemaleHumansInterleukin-1betaMaleMicrogliaMicroscopy, Electron, TransmissionTetraspanin 29CD8 AntigensDNA, MitochondrialInterleukin-1betaTetraspanin 29Autism spectrum disorderBrainExosomesExtracellular vesiclesIL-1βInflammationMicrogliaMitochondrial DNA

Identifiers

PMID30149804
PMCPMC6112123
OpenAlexW2889144461

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.