High prevalence of serum folate receptor autoantibodies in children with autism spectrum disorders

Abstract

Background: Supplementation of folic acid by pregnant mothers is thought to lower the risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in the offspring. Folic acid is taken up by cells via receptors with high affinity for folate and reduced folic acid derivatives. However, this is blocked by the presence of folate receptor autoantibodies (FRAA). Cerebral FRAA have been detected with high frequency in children with ASDs, suggesting the existence of a link between folic acid uptake and disease aetiology.

Methods: We investigated the frequency of FRAA in serum samples from 40 children with ASDs and 42 gender- and age-matched children with typical development (TD). Serum FRAA concentrations were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Results: We found a significant difference in the frequency of serum FRAA in the two study cohorts. Serum FRAA were present in 77.5% (31/40) of children with ASDs compared with 54.8% (23/42) of TD children (p = 0.03746, Fischer’s exact test). Thus, serum FRAA are more prevalent in children with ASDs than in TD children.

Conclusions: Our data suggest that children with ASDs may have defects in folic acid absorption that play a role in the onset of ASDs.

Keywords:

• Autism spectrum disorders
• folate receptor autoantibodies
• enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
• children
• serum

Acknowledgements

Authors are sincerely grateful to the children who participated in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Program Nos. 81701351 and 81720108018]; and by Shenzhen Science Technology and Innovation Commission (JCYJ20170413093358429 and JCYJ20160427101538845); the National Key Research and Development Program of China (program No. 2016YFC0905100); the National High Technology Research and Development Programs [“863 Program” No. 2015AA020405]; and by Shenzhen Imunobio [Program No. 2015A010].