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Neurodevelopmental disorders

Maternal antibodies induce autism-like phenotype in mice

Nature Reviews Neurology volume 12, pages 678–679 (2016)Cite this article

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Previous studies have demonstrated that mothers with a ASD-affected child are more likely to have brain-directed antibodies than are other women of a similar age. Moreover, when serum or polyclonal antibodies from those women are injected into pregnant mice or primates, they can result in autism-like symptoms in the offspring. However, the targets of the IgG in these serum or polyclonal antibody preparations had not been previously identified.

Lior Brimberg, Simone Mader and Betty Diamond from the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York, USA set out to determine which specific maternal antibodies are pathogenic, as well as to assess the mechanisms of their pathogenicity. The researchers generated monoclonal antibodies from mothers with brain-directed antibodies and a child with an ASD.

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References

  1. Brimberg, L. et al. Caspr2-reactive antibody cloned from a mother of an ASD child mediates an ASD-like phenotype in mice. Mol. Psychiatry http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/mp.2016.165 (2016)

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Authors
  1. Hemi Malkki
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Malkki, H. Maternal antibodies induce autism-like phenotype in mice. Nat Rev Neurol 12, 678–679 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2016.165

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