The Eurasian Journal of Medicine
Original Article

Is Serum Progranulin Level a Biomarker in Autism and Cognitive Development Disorders?

1.

Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Ataturk University School of Health Sciences, Turkey

2.

Department of Medical Biochemistry, Erzincan Binali Yildirim University School of Medicine, Turkey

3.

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Inonu University School of Medicine, Malatya, Turkey

4.

Independent Researcher

5.

Department of Medical Biochemistry, Uskudar University School of Medicine, İstanbul Turkey

6.

Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Erzurum Regional Training and Research Hospital, Erzurum, Turkey

7.

Autism, Mental Special Needs and Rare Disease Department in the Turkish Ministry of Health, General Directorate of Health Services, Ankara, Turkey

Eurasian J Med 2022; 54: 50-53
DOI: 10.5152/eurasianjmed.2022.21292
Read: 1235 Downloads: 683 Published: 01 February 2022

Objective: Cognitive developmental delay is a picture of the group of early-onset chronic diseases that affect 1.5-10% of children. Autism spectrum disorders are neurodevelopmental diseases with a genetic basis and abnormal brain development, characterized by disorders in areas that make up interpersonal relationships, such as communication, social cognition, and processing of emotional signals. Immune system dysfunction is thought to play a role in the pathogenesis of some neurological disorders, including autism. Progranulin is thought to be a regulator of the innate immune response. The purpose of this study was to look at plasma levels of progranulin, an anti-inflammatory neurotrophic factor, in children with autism spectrum disorder and cognitive developmental delay.

Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on 52 children who were patients and 35 healthy children. Of the 52 children of the patient group, 32 were diagnosed with CDD and 20 were diagnosed with cognitive developmental delay–autism spectrum disorder. Serum progranulin concentrations were measured using a human-specific sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Results: Serum progranulin concentration was statistically lower in the patient group (110.746 ± 26.04) than in the healthy control group (137.346 ± 30.02). There was a statistically significant difference between the groups in levels of serum progranulin (P=.000). Receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed to evaluate the potential of progranulin as a biomarker to distinguish patients with cognitive developmental delay–autism spectrum disorder from healthy children. It detected a moderate area under the curve (0.743 ± 0.06) value and a more significant P value for progranulin (P=.000).

Conclusion: Progranulin deficiency in patients with autism spectrum disorder–cognitive developmental delay may result in decreased neurotrophic support for many years, with cumulative damage associated with unregulated inflammation that may play a role in autism spectrum disorder–cognitive developmental delay. We believe that low progranulin levels could be a biomarker for autism spectrum disorder–cognitive developmental delay.

Cite this article as: Betül Özgeriş F, Kurt N, Ibili Ucuz I, et al. Is serum progranulin level a biomarker in autism and cognitive development disorders? Eurasian J Med 2022;54(1):50-53.

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