Plasma levels of nerve growth factor in Egyptian autistic children: Relation to hyperserotonemia and autoimmunity

Hyperserotonemia and brain-specific autoantibodies are detected in some autistic children. Nerve growth factor (NGF) stimulates the proliferation of B lymphocytes with production of antibodies and also increases mast cell serotonin release. This work was the first to investigate the relationship between plasma NGF and both hyperserotonemia and the frequency of serum anti-myelin basic protein (anti-MBP) auto-antibodies in 22 autistic children aged between 4 and 12 years and 22 healthy-matched controls. Levels of NGF, serotonin and anti-MBP were significantly higher in autistic children than healthy control children (P 0.001). There was a significant positive correlation between NGF and serotonin levels in autistic patients (P 0.01). In contrast, there was a non-significant correlation between NGF and anti-MBP levels (P 0.05). In conclusions, serum NGF levels were elevated and significantly correlated to hyperserotonemia found in many autistic children.