AUTHOR=Barone Rita , Alaimo Salvatore , Messina Marianna , Pulvirenti Alfredo , Bastin Jean , MIMIC-Autism Group , Ferro Alfredo , Frye Richard E. , Rizzo Renata , Fiumara Agata , Meli Concetta , Gulisano Mariangela , Maugeri Federica , Prato Adriana , Russo Giovanna , Tabbì Giovanni TITLE=A Subset of Patients With Autism Spectrum Disorders Show a Distinctive Metabolic Profile by Dried Blood Spot Analyses JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry VOLUME=9 YEAR=2018 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00636 DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00636 ISSN=1664-0640 ABSTRACT=
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is currently diagnosed according to behavioral criteria. Biomarkers that identify children with ASD could lead to more accurate and early diagnosis. ASD is a complex disorder with multifactorial and heterogeneous etiology supporting recognition of biomarkers that identify patient subsets. We investigated an easily testable blood metabolic profile associated with ASD diagnosis using high throughput analyses of samples extracted from dried blood spots (DBS). A targeted panel of 45 ASD analytes including acyl-carnitines and amino acids extracted from DBS was examined in 83 children with ASD (60 males; age 6.06 ± 3.58, range: 2–10 years) and 79 matched, neurotypical (NT) control children (57 males; age 6.8 ± 4.11 years, range 2.5–11 years). Based on their chronological ages, participants were divided in two groups: younger or older than 5 years. Two-sided