ArticleJournal of neuroinflammation2011
IL-6 is increased in the cerebellum of autistic brain and alters neural cell adhesion, migration and synaptic formation.
Article in Journal of neuroinflammation, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 145 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
145 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 330 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association of Peripheral Blood Levels of Cytokines With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Postmortem Studies of Neuroinflammation in Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Systematic Review.Molecular neurobiology · 2020Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Cytokine aberrations in autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Molecular psychiatry · 2015Pooled it
- Celecoxib as adjunctive treatment to risperidone in children with autistic disorder: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.Psychopharmacology · 2013Trial
- Mast Cells in the Developing Brain.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Review
- Inflammatory cytokine alterations in autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Review
- Risk factors for autism spectrum disorder among infants and children admitted in a neonatal intensive care unit.Dialogues in health · 2026Article
- mMolecular neurobiology · 2026Article
- Article
- Cerebellar Abnormalities: A Component of Autism Pathophysiology.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Review
- Changes in peripheral immune cell phenotypes and their roles in autism: insights from clinical and animal model studies.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Low-dose combination of ultramicronized palmitoylethanolamide and docosahexaenoic acid on neurosteroid and neuroinflammatory dysregulation in autism spectrum disorders.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2026Article
- Integrating Gut-Brain Axis: Exploring the Neurogastrointestinal Interactions and Therapeutic Potentials in Autism Spectrum Disorder.Endocrine, metabolic & immune disorders drug targets · 2026Review
- Neuroinflammation and autism: what have we learned so far?International journal of developmental disabilities · 2026Article
- Roles of NRXN1 in neuropsychiatric disorders: from genetic lesion to molecular mechanism.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Interplay Between VCAM-1 and PGE2 Levels and Autism Spectrum Disorder Severity in Children-A Preliminary Single-Center Analysis.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- PROTOCOL: Association of Antenatal Cytokine Concentrations With Neurodevelopmental Disorders of the Offspring: A Scoping Review.Campbell systematic reviews · 2025Article
- Fractalkine and Neuroinflammation in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Novel Perspective.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Impaired macroautophagy confers substantial risk for intellectual disability in children with autism spectrum disorders.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Article
85 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough the cellular mechanisms responsible for the pathogenesis of autism are not understood, a growing number of studies have suggested that localized inflammation of the central nervous system (CNS) may contribute to the development of autism. Recent evidence shows that IL-6 has a crucial role in the development and plasticity of CNS.
methodsImmunohistochemistry studies were employed to detect the IL-6 expression in the cerebellum of study subjects. In vitro adenoviral gene delivery approach was used to over-express IL-6 in cultured cerebellar granule cells. Cell adhesion and migration assays, DiI labeling, TO-PRO-3 staining and immunofluorescence were used to examine cell adhesion and migration, dendritic spine morphology, cell apoptosis and synaptic protein expression respectively.
resultsIn this study, we found that IL-6 was significantly increased in the cerebellum of autistic subjects. We investigated how IL-6 affects neural cell development and function by transfecting cultured mouse cerebellar granule cells with an IL-6 viral expression vector. We demonstrated that IL-6 over-expression in granule cells caused impairments in granule cell adhesion and migration but had little effect on the formation of dendritic spines or granule cell apoptosis. However, IL-6 over-expression stimulated the formation of granule cell excitatory synapses, without affecting inhibitory synapses.
conclusionsOur results provide further evidence that aberrant IL-6 may be associated with autism. In addition, our results suggest that the elevated IL-6 in the autistic brain could alter neural cell adhesion, migration and also cause an imbalance of excitatory and inhibitory circuits. Thus, increased IL-6 expression may be partially responsible for the pathogenesis of autism.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.