Category: Paediatrics

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Wits University Tests Nirsevimab to Protect Against RSV in Infants

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Wits University has reported that a drug to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in infants is safe and effective, enabling ways to protect vulnerable groups such as preterm babies from the virus.

RSV is a major cause of lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) and hospitalisation in infants. Globally, approximately one-third of all hospitalisations for lower respiratory tract illness are caused by RSV. Hence, there is a serious unmet medical need for RSV protection in healthy infants born at term.

The Wits Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics (Wits VIDA) research unit was the lead South African collaborator in a phase 2/3 study to investigate the efficacy and safety of Nirsevimab, in healthy late-preterm and term infants.

Nirsevimab is a monoclonal antibody against RSV with an extended half-life. Monoclonal antibodies are antibodies that have a high degree of specificity (mono-specificity) for an antigen or epitope, and are generally well tolerated. Monoclonal antibodies are typically derived from a clonal expansion of antibody-producing malignant human plasma cells. Because they are large proteins (typically 150-200 000 daltons in size) they require parenteral, often intravenous, administration.

Nirsevimab has an extended half-life of three to four months, and is able to provide protection for the entire RSV season, which usually lasts for three to four months.

Compared to term infants, late preterm infants (born at 32 to 37 weeks) have a higher hospitalisation and mortality risk from RSV, due to their relative physiologic and metabolic immaturity. Late preterm infants are at increased risk of a host of morbidities and mortality, including respiratory distress and failure, feeding difficulties, poor growth, hypoglycaemia, hyperbilirubinemia, and hypothermia.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that the drug Nirsevimab significantly protected infants against RSV disease in the Phase 3 MELODY trial, and protected high risk children in a separate study known as MEDLEY.

“This intervention provides the opportunity to protect young infants against the most common cause of hospitalisation from lower respiratory tract infections – RSV – which kills between 60 000 to 190 000 babies each year, mainly in low- and middle-income countries,” says Wits Professor of Vaccinology Shabir Madhi, Director of Wits VIDA, and a co-author of the study.

The findings showed 74.5% efficacy against medically attended lower respiratory tract infections caused by RSV in healthy infants.

Furthermore, Nirsevimab is the first potential immunisation for all infants to demonstrate sustained protection across the entire RSV season with a single dose.

“The new drug provides the opportunity of protecting infants, including high-risk groups – such as those born prematurely or with chronic lung or congenital heart disease – against the leading cause of hospitalisation for lower respiratory tract infections among infants globally,” says Madhi.

Source: Wits University

Categories : COVID PaediatricsTags :

Croup – A Previously Unrecognised COVID Complication in Young Children

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With the spread of omicron infections in young children, doctors have observed the rise of a previously unrecognised COVID complication: croup. Published in Pediatrics, physicians at Boston Children’s Hospital reported on 75 children admitted to the emergency department (ED) with croup and COVID.

The children appeared at the ED from from March 1, 2020 through January 15, 2022. Some cases were surprisingly severe, requiring hospitalisation and more medication doses compared to croup caused by other viruses. Just over 80% occurred during the omicron period. The report was published March 8 in a pre-publication in.

“There was a very clear delineation from when omicron became the dominant variant to when we started seeing a rise in the number of croup patients,” said  Ryan Brewster, MD, first author of the report.

Laryngotracheitis, commonly known as croup, is a common respiratory illness in babies and young children. It is marked by a distinctive barking cough and sometimes stridor. It happens when viral infections cause swelling around the upper respiratory tract. In severe cases, including some seen at Boston Children’s, it can dangerously constrict breathing.

COVID studies in animals have found that the omicron strain ‘prefers’ the upper airway more than earlier variants, which mainly targeted the lower respiratory tract. This may account for the sudden appearance of croup during the omicron surge, said Dr Brewster.

In keeping with the general pattern of croup, most of the children with COVID and croup were under two years old, and 72% were boys. Except for one child with a common cold virus, none had a viral infection other than SARS-CoV-2.

Although all the children survived, nine of the 75 children with COVID-associated croup (12%) required hospitalisation and four of them (44%, or 5%of the total) required intensive care. (By comparison, before COVID, fewer than 5% of children with croup were hospitalised, and of those, only 1 to 3% required intubation.)

Overall, 97% of the children were treated with dexamethasone, a steroid. All of those who were hospitalised received racemic epinephrine via nebuliser, which is reserved for moderate or severe cases, as did 29% of children treated in the ED. Those who were hospitalised needed a median of six doses of dexamethasone and 8 nebulised epinephrine treatments to control their symptoms.

“Most cases of croup can be managed in the outpatient setting with dexamethasone and supportive care,” said Dr Brewster. “The relatively high hospitalisation rate and the large number of medication doses our COVID croup patients required suggests that COVID might cause more severe croup compared to other viruses. Further research is needed to determine the best treatment options for these children.”

Source: EurekAlert!

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Invasive Mechanical Ventilation in PICU has Lasting Neurocognitive Impacts

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Children in paediatric ICUs (PICUs) that undergo invasive mechanical ventilation for acute respiratory failure are left with lasting neurocognitive effects, according to a study published in JAMA.

Little is known about whether children undergoing invasive mechanical ventilation worse long-term neurocognitive function than children who do not undergo such procedures. There are concerns about neurotoxic effects of critical illness and its treatment on the developing brain. Therefore, infants and young children may be uniquely susceptible to adverse neurocognitive outcomes after invasive mechanical ventilation.

Researchers conducted a four-year sibling-matched cohort study conducted at 31 PICUs and associated neuropsychology testing centres. Children who survived PICU hospitalisation for respiratory failure and were discharged without severe cognitive dysfunction were found to have significantly lower subsequent IQ scores than their matched siblings.

“While the difference in IQ scores between patients and unexposed siblings was small, the data provide strong evidence of the existence and epidemiology of paediatric post-intensive care syndrome (PICS-p) after a single typical episode of acute respiratory failure necessitating invasive ventilation among generally healthy children,” said Martha A.Q. Curley, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) and the study’s lead researcher.

The study reaffirms the importance of assessing long-term outcomes as part of any trial evaluating acute interventions in pediatric critical care. It also underscores the importance of further study to understand which children may be at highest risk, what modifiable factors could cause it, and how it can be prevented.

Source: University of Pennsylvania

Categories : Diseases, Syndromes and Conditions PaediatricsTags :

Azithromycin in Infant RSV Does Not Prevent Wheezing, May be Harmful

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A recent study on the impact of the antibiotic azithromycin during severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) bronchiolitis overwhelmingly supports current bronchiolitis guidelines in the US, which recommend against antibiotics during acute bronchiolitis.

The anti-inflammatory properties of azithromycin can be beneficial in some chronic lung diseases, such as cystic fibrosis. With that in mind, researchers investigated its potential to prevent future recurrent wheezing among infants hospitalised with RSV. With such babies at increased risk of developing asthma later in childhood, the scientists hoped to find a therapy to reduce this risk.

The study, published in NEJM Evidence, also provided considerable evidence that severe RSV bronchiolitis in early life increases the likelihood of repeated wheezing episodes in early childhood, often leading to asthma.

“The major message is that antibiotics don’t have a role, either in the management of acute RSV bronchiolitis or to reduce subsequent wheezing,” said co-corresponding author Leonard Bacharier, MD, professor of Pediatrics at Monroe Carell Jr Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. “As a matter of fact, we found that antibiotics in general in our study of severe RSV bronchiolitis increased the risk of subsequent recurrent wheezing over the following two to four years.”

“We need to discourage the use of this therapy, as it is potentially harmful,” he said.

The study examined children hospitalised with RSV bronchiolitis during a single-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

An earlier pilot trial enrolled 40 infants hospitalised with RSV bronchiolitis where treatment with azithromycin, and this showed a reduction in the likelihood of recurrent wheeze over the following year.

In the current study, 200 otherwise healthy 1- to 18-month-old children who were hospitalised for RSV bronchiolitis were prospectively randomised to either oral azithromycin or a placebo for 14 days. The group was broadly representative of the population of children who experience severe RSV bronchiolitis.

Antibiotics are sometimes used in the treatment of RSV because co-occurring complications lead medical teams to prescribe them, thinking there is a bacterial component to the illness, Prof Bacharier said.
“This condition can be managed by supportive care – oxygen, fluids, observation, time and love,” he stressed. “If a clinician is going to use an antibiotic in the setting of RSV bronchiolitis, there needs to be a very strong rationale for doing so. There is substantial evidence to suggest that children who receive antibiotics early in life are at an increased risk of developing asthma, and this study is consistent with that evidence.”

Source: EurekAlert!

Categories : Paediatrics Respiratory DiseasesTags :

Indoor Air Pollution Linked to Pneumonia in Children

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Streptococcus pneumoniae. Credit: CDC

A new study published in The Lancet Global Health, highlights the impact indoor air pollution can have on the development of child pneumonia, showing that increases in airborne particulate matter results in greater carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major human pathogen causing more than two million deaths per year; more than HIV/AIDS, measles and malaria combined, but it is also part of the normal microbial community of the nasopharynx. It is the leading cause of death due to infectious disease in children under five years of age; in sub-Saharan Africa, the burden of pneumococcal carriage and pneumonia is especially high.

Household air pollution from solid fuels increases the risk of childhood pneumonia. Nasopharyngeal carriage of S. pneumoniae is a necessary step in the development of pneumococcal pneumonia. More than 2.6 billion people are exposed to household air pollution worldwide. Inefficient indoor biomass burning is estimated to cause 3.8 million premature deaths annually and approximately 45% of all pneumonia deaths in children aged younger than five years. However, a causal pathway between household air pollution and pneumonia had not yet been identified.

In order to understand the connection between exposure to household air pollution and the risk of childhood pneumonia researchers from the UK, Malawi and the United States conducted the MSCAPE (Malawi Streptococcus pneumoniae Carriage and Air Pollution Exposure) study embedded in the ongoing CAPS (Child And Pneumonia Study) trial. The MSCAPE study assessed the impact of PM2.5, the single most important health-damaging pollutant in household air pollution, on the prevalence of pneumococcal carriage in a large sample of 485 Malawian children.

Through exposure-response analysis, a statistically significant 10% increase in risk of S. pneumoniae carriage in children was observed for a unit increase (deciles) of exposure to PM2.5 (ranging from 3.9 μg/m³ to 617.0 μg/m³).

Dr. Mukesh Dherani, the study principal investigator, indicated: “This study provides us with greater insight into the impact household air pollution can have on the development of child pneumonia. These findings provide important new evidence of intermediary steps in the causal pathway of household air pollution exposure to pneumonia and provide a platform for future mechanistic studies.”

Study author Professor Dan Pope said: “Moving forward further studies, particularly new randomized controlled trials comparing clean fuels (e.g. liquefied petroleum gas) with biomass fuels, with detailed measurements of PM2.5 exposure, and studies of mechanisms underlying increased pneumococcal carriage, are required to strengthen causal evidence for this component of the pathway from household air pollution exposure to ALRI in children.”

Professor Nigel Bruce, co-principal investigator, stated: “This study provides further important evidence that emphasises the need to accelerate to cleaner fuels, such as LPG, which are now being promoted by many governments across the continent in order to meet SDG7 by 2030.”

Source: University of Liverpool

Categories : COVID PaediatricsTags :

High COVID Mortality Rate Found in African Children and Adolescents

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African children and adolescents hospitalised with COVID experience much higher mortality rates than Europeans or North Americans of the same age, according to a recent six-country study which included South Africa.

The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics. was conducted by researchers from the Institute of Human Virology (IHV) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) and the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN). Both organisations are members of the Global Virus Network (GVN).

“This study provides important information about COVID among African children, which was not previously available at this scale. We now have evidence from multiple countries to show that African children also experience severe COVID; they experience multisystem inflammatory syndrome; some require intensive care; some also die, and at much higher rates than outside Africa,” said co-first author Nadia Sam-Agudu, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the UMSOM’s Institute of Human Virology.

The AFREhealth study collected data from 25 health facilities across Nigeria, Ghana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda. The study included 469 African children and adolescents aged three months to 19 years hospitalised with COVID between March and December 2020. The team reported a high overall mortality rate of 8.3%, compared with 1% or less totaled from Europe and North America. Furthermore, African children less than a year old and with pre-existing, non-communicable diseases were more likely to have poorer outcomes.

Eighteen participants had suspected or confirmed multisystem inflammatory syndrome (also known as MIS-C), and four of these children died.

Dr Sam-Agudu, who led the West Africa team for the study, urged health authorities and policymakers in Nigeria and other African countries to act upon the study findings “to protect children by expanding vaccine approvals and procurements for children specifically, as the variants emerging since our study’s completion have either caused more severe disease and/or more cases overall. We cannot leave children behind in the pandemic response.”

Source: University of Maryland

Categories : PaediatricsTags :

Lower RBC Transfusion Volume in Neonate ECMO Reduces Mortality

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A new study indicates that for newborns in respiratory failure supported by ECMO, the greater volume of the red blood cell (RBC) transfusions that the babies receive, the higher their mortality rate.

“In order for the baby to survive on ECMO, they need red blood cells, they need platelets, they need plasma,” said Dr Brian Stansfield, neonatologist at the Medical College of Georgia and Children’s Hospital of Georgia (CHOG) “You have to have sufficient blood volume to make the whole system work. But there is also increasing evidence that if you can get by with less, that is probably more.”

“We think this supports the overall trend of being more restrictive in transfusion practices and being even more mindful about when you give transfusions and when you don’t while a child is on ECMO,” said Dr Jessica Gancar, neonatology fellow at MCG and CHOG.

The clinicians are the most confident this holds true for ECMO with babies in respiratory failure, while the relationship is more tentative for other causes. Respiratory failure makes up the largest population of newborns needing ECMO. The findings are another good reason for ECMO centres to reexamine when they transfuse babies, the clinicians point out.
Haematocrit levels (red blood cells to volume ratio) are a key measure typically used to determine whether to transfuse.

“Our transfusion practice is when the haematocrit hits 35% we will transfuse,” said Dr Stansfield. “Most ECMO centres still have a threshold of 40%, which means they are transfusing more. Others transfuse at 30%. So in our program we also have to ask the question if we are accepting some unnecessary risks. Could we get by with less?”                                                                    
They looked at 248 newborns treated from 2002-19 at CHOG with an overall survival rate of 93%.

They analysed their medical records for any relationship between blood product transfusion and death and complication rates in these babies.  

“We identified a clear linear relationship between mortality and red blood cell transfusion volume. Specifically, for every transfusion of red cells while on ECMO, a baby’s chances of survival decreased by 14%,” said Dr Gancar.

Plasma or platelet transfusions did not correlate with increased mortality. The findings are being presented during the Southern Society for Pediatric Research meeting.

“While blood product transfusions are necessary for critically ill newborns on ECMO, transfusions are given in response to ‘understudied, arbitrary thresholds and may be associated with significant morbidity and mortality,’” they write in their abstract.

“I think we are getting to the point, with neonatal ECMO in particular, where we are transitioning from how do we prevent death by intervening with ECMO – for a long time that was the question – to asking questions like once you are on ECMO, how do we make outcomes better,” said Dr Stansfield. “We already know that going on ECMO is a risk, that all the blood and other products we are giving at the start of ECMO is a risk, but could we limit some of the additional risk?”

ECMO requires essentially doubling the baby’s blood volume, said Dr Gancar. Just priming the pump typically requires two packs of red blood cells along with other select additives like albumin and heparin. Typically two more packs of platelets as well as fresh frozen plasma are given once the baby is on ECMO. Other blood product transfusions may follow over their course on ECMO, which averages three to seven days at CHOG.

At CHOG, the neonatal specialists work hard to give as few transfusions as possible and some babies, typically those on ECMO five days or less, may not require any exposures beyond the pump priming; others, typically the sickest babies, may be given five to 10 transfusions over their treatment course. They note that their study adjusted for sickness severity so that could not explain the increased mortality they found associated with more red blood cell transfusions.

Blood transfusion is known to increase mortality risk in essentially any disease process, Dr Gancar said, as they can prompt problems like increased inflammation, despite modern typing procedures to help ensure a good match between donor and recipient.

In these babies that risk seems linked to red blood cells, which have to be separated from factors they normally circulate with, be exposed to preservatives and may have a protracted storage time before they are transfused.  

Decades of success with ECMO has the CHOG team confident about its value in helping babies overcome potentially deadly but also potentially reversible problems like meconium aspiration, but they still have a “healthy respect” for the technique, Dr Stansfield said.

They rule out traditional therapies first like using a ventilator to support breathing and nitric oxide to dilate the lungs and blood vessels. Dr Stansfield notes that the number of babies needing ECMO has fallen over the years as neonatal teams like theirs have improved.

But sometimes: “We run out of options unfortunately and that is when we bring in ECMO,” said Stansfield. While the team has one of the longest and best track records in the nation with ECMO, the facts remain that it requires surgery on the baby’s neck to place a small cannula in their internal jugular vein and sometimes a second one placed in the carotid artery to return the warmed and oxygenated blood back to the baby. Both those blood vessels no longer function afterward.

Approaches like ventilators are more straightforward and less invasive, Dr Stansfield said. “But the realisation is that we know there is a small percentage of kids that need more intensive therapy,” he said.  

Source: EurekAlert!

Categories : COVID PaediatricsTags :

COVID is Turning Some Children into ‘Fussy Eaters’

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More and more children could be turning into ‘fussy eaters’ after a bout of COVID, according to smell experts at the University of East Anglia and Fifth Sense, a charity for people affected by smell and taste disorders.

This is because they may be suffering parosmia – a symptom where people experience strange and often unpleasant smell distortions. Once-loved foods like chicken may taste like petrol, for example, making it hard for children to eat those foods and maintain a healthy diet – or even take in enough calories to maintain their weight.

Together, Fifth Sense and leading smell expert Professor Carl Philpott from University of East Anglia, are launching guidance to help parents and healthcare professionals better recognise the disorder.

Prof Carl Philpott said: ”Parosmia is thought to be a product of having less smell receptors working which leads to only being able to pick up some of the components of a smell mixture. It’s a bit like Eric Morecambe famously said to Andre Previn – ‘it’s all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order’.

He said that as COVID swept through classrooms in the UK, there has been a growing awareness that it is affecting children too. “In many cases the condition is putting children off their food, and many may be finding it difficult to eat at all.

“It’s something that until now hasn’t really been recognised by medical professionals, who just think the kids are being difficult eaters without realising the underlying problem. For Prof Philpott, he is seeing teenage patients with parosmia for the first time in his career.

Fifth Sense Chair and founder Duncan Boak said: “We’re hearing anecdotal evidence that children are really struggling with their food after covid.

“If children are suffering smell distortions – and food smells and tastes disgusting – it’s going to be really hard for them to eat the foods they once loved.

“We’ve heard from some parents whose children are suffering nutritional problems and have lost weight, but doctors have put this down to just fussy eating. We’re really keen to share more information on this issue with the healthcare profession so they’re aware that there is a wider problem here.”

Together with Prof Philpott, Fifth Sense have put together guidance for parents and healthcare providers to help recognition and understanding of the problem.

The guidance shows that children should be listened to and believed. Parents can help by keeping a food diary noting those that are safe and those that are triggers.

“Establishing what the triggers are and what tastes ok is really important,” said Prof Philpott.

“There are lots of common triggers – for example cooking meat and onions or garlic and the smell of fresh coffee brewing, but these can vary from child to child.

“Parents and healthcare professionals should encourage children to try different foods with less strong flavours such as pasta, bananas, or mild cheese – to see what they can cope with or enjoy.

“Vanilla or flavour-free protein and vitamin milkshakes can help children get the nutrients they need without the taste. And it may sound obvious, but children could use a soft nose clip or hold their nose while eating to help them block out the flavours.”

‘Smell training’ has emerged as a simple and side-effect free treatment option for various causes of smell loss, and is a final option to consider.

Prof Philpott said: “Smell training involves sniffing at least four different odours – for example eucalyptus, lemon, rose, cinnamon, chocolate, coffee, or lavender – twice a day every day for several months.

“Children should use smells that they are familiar with and are not parosmia triggers. In younger children this might not be helpful, but in teenagers this might be something they can tolerate.”

Source: University of East Anglia

Categories : Paediatrics Respiratory DiseasesTags :

Trial Shows Dupilumab is Safe and Effective for Asthma in Children

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In a late-stage clinical trial, the biologic agent dupilumab reduced the rate of severe asthma attacks and improved lung function and asthma control for children ages 6 to 11, adding to the treatment options for children with moderate-to-severe asthma. 

The findings of the international multicentre Liberty Asthma VOYAGE trial, appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, and informed the agent’s approval in this age group by the Food and Drug Administration.

“This is a really important advance for children with moderate-to-severe asthma and their families,” said Leonard Bacharier, MD, an asthma specialist at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt and the international lead investigator for the trial.

Asthma is the most common chronic disorder of childhood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is a leading cause of hospitalisation for children, and children with moderate-to-severe asthma may have reduced lung function and be at greater risk for lung diseases in adulthood, said Dr Bacharier.

“As asthma gets increasingly severe, the burden becomes substantial, impacting the child and the entire family,” he said. “While we have very good asthma therapies available, none of them are perfect in eliminating severe exacerbations.”

Dupilumab, a monoclonal antibody that targets type 2 inflammation, has been approved for the treatment of asthma in adults and adolescents for several years. Based on its established safety and efficacy, the investigators conducted a Phase III clinical trial in 408 children aged 6 to 11 who had uncontrolled moderate-to-severe asthma.

In a double-blind trial, children received either a subcutaneous injection of dupilumab or placebo in addition to their standard therapy every two weeks for a year.

Most participants had markers of type 2 inflammation, namely elevated levels of immune cells called eosinophils and/or elevated levels of nitric oxide in exhaled air. In patients with these markers, dupilumab significantly reduced the rate of severe exacerbations – symptoms requiring systemic steroid treatment, need for emergency care or hospitalisation – by nearly 60%. Additionally, dupilumab improved lung function, measured by forced exhalation, and improved asthma control.

“This is the first study of its kind in children ages 6 to 11 that has demonstrated that a biologic improves asthma exacerbations, lung function and asthma control,” Dr Bacharier said. “We were not surprised, because dupilumab was very effective in clinical trials in adults and adolescents, but we were delighted with the results and the hope they bring to children and their families.”

The trial demonstrated that dupilumab was safe. Some children in the treatment  arm had increases in blood eosinophil levels or mild but manageable parasitic infections (type 2 immunity fights parasites), but very few discontinued dupilumab because of adverse reactions.

Limited ethnic diversity was noted as a weakness in the trial, especially in light of the disproportionate asthma burden among Black people. Trial participants were invited to participate in a trial extension to determine long-term safety and efficacy.

While two other biologic medicines targeting type 2 inflammation have been approved for asthma treatment in children, neither has shown improvements in all three key clinical endpoints – asthma exacerbations, lung function and asthma control – in a controlled clinical trial, Dr Bacharier said.

Bacharier plans to explore the potential for dupilumab to modify asthma development. “Can we use this agent earlier in life to change how the disease develops? I think that’s the next frontier,” he said.

Source: EurekAlert!

Categories : Neurology PaediatricsTags :

Scientists Find Epilepsy Biomarker in Autistic Children

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Scientists have discovered that an important brain protein that quiets overactive brain cells and is abnormally low in children with autism, which may explain why so many children with autism also have epilepsy. The findings were published in Neuron.

This protein can be detected in the cerebrospinal fluid, making it a promising marker to diagnose autism and potentially treat the epilepsy that accompanies the disorder.

Mutated versions of this gene were known to cause autism combined with epilepsy, and epilepsy appears in 30% to 50% of children with autism. Autism, which is 90% genetic, affects 1/58 children in the US.

Appropriately nicknamed ‘catnap2’, the protein, CNTNAP2, is produced by the brain cells when they become overactive. Because the brains of children with autism and epilepsy lack sufficient CNTNAP2, scientists found, their brains become overactive, leading to seizures.

For the study, the researchers analysed the cerebrospinal fluid in individuals with autism and epilepsy, and in mouse models. Though, cerebrospinal fluid has been used in researching disorders such as Parkinson’s, this is the first study showing it is an important biomarker in autism.

The new finding about CNTNAP2’s role in calming the brain in autism and epilepsy may lead to new treatments.

“We can replace CNTNAP2,” said lead study author Peter Penzes, the director of the Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “We can make it in a test tube and should be able to inject it into children’s spinal fluid, which will go back into their brain.”

Penzes’ lab is currently working on this technique in preclinical research.

The level in the spinal cord is proxy for the level in the brain, explained Penzes. When brain cells are too active because of overstimulation, they produce more CNTNAP2, which floats away and binds to other brain cells to calm them. The protein also leaks into the cerebrospinal fluid, where scientists were able to measure it, giving them a clue for how much is produced in the brain.

Source: EurekAlert!