Relationship Between Maternal Antibodies to Fetal Brain and Prenatal Stress Exposure in Autism Spectrum Disorder
David Beversdorf1, Amy Costa1, Bradley Ferguson1, Emily Hawkins1, Adriana Coman2, Joseph Schauer3, Alex Ramierez-Celis3, Patrick Hecht1, Danielle Bruce4, Michael Tilley4, Zohreh Talebizadeh5, Judy Van De Water6
1University of Missouri, 2Grinnell College, 3University of California-Davis, 4Central Methodist University, 5American College of Human Genetics, 6UC Davis
Objective:
To examine the relationship between prenatal stress exposure and maternal antibodies in mothers of children diagnosed with ASD.
Background:
Environmental and genetic factors contribute to the etiology of ASD, but their interaction is less well understood. Mothers that are genetically more stress susceptible have been found to be at increased risk of having a child with ASD after exposure to stress during pregnancy. Additionally, presence of maternal antibodies to fetal brain are associated with a diagnosis of ASD in the child. However, the relationship between prenatal stress exposure and maternal antibodies in mothers of children diagnosed with ASD has not yet been addressed.
Design/Methods:
This exploratory study examined the association of maternal antibody response with prenatal stress and a diagnosis of ASD in the child. Blood samples from 53 mothers who have at least one child diagnosed with ASD were examined by ELISA. Maternal antibody presence, perceived stress level during pregnancy (high or low), and maternal 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms were examined for their interrelationship in ASD.
Results:
While a high incidence of prenatal stress and maternal antibodies was found in the sample, they were not associated with each other (p=0.709, Cramer’s V=0.051). Furthermore, results revealed no significant association between maternal antibody presence and the interaction between 5-HTTLPR genotype and stress (p=0.729, Cramer’s V=0.157).
Conclusions:
Prenatal stress was not found to be associated with presence of maternal antibodies in the context of ASD. Despite the known relationship between stress and changes in immune function, these results suggest that prenatal stress and immune dysregulation are independently associated with a diagnosis of ASD in this study population, rather than acting through a convergent mechanism.