A study comparing postmortem brain tissue from 8 Caucasian children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) with 8 Caucasian children without ASD, ages 3-14 years, found that brains of children with ASD showed increased expression of the proinflammatory cytokine IL-18 and the antiinflammatory cytokine IL-37, which inhibited microglia-driven brain inflammation; the results suggest that IL-37 may represent a potential therapeutic candidate for ASD.
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Article #19-06817: "IL-37 is increased in brains of children with autism spectrum disorder and inhibits human microglia stimulated by neurotensin," by Irene Tsilioni et al.
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences