No Association between Mycotoxin Exposure and Autism: A Pilot Case-Control Study in School-Aged Children

• Published in: Toxins Vol. 8; no. 7; p. 224
• Main Authors: Duringer, Jennifer, Fombonne, Eric, Craig, Morrie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI 20.07.2016; MDPI AG
• Subjects: Adolescent; autism; Autism Spectrum Disorder - diagnosis; Autism Spectrum Disorder - etiology; Autism Spectrum Disorder - urine; Biomarkers - urine; Case-Control Studies; Child; Child, Preschool; Chromatography, Liquid; Communication; environmental; Environmental Exposure - adverse effects; Female; Humans; Lactones - adverse effects; Lactones - urine; Limit of Detection; Male; mycotoxins; Mycotoxins - adverse effects; Mycotoxins - urine; Pilot Projects; Reproducibility of Results; Risk Assessment; Risk Factors; Tandem Mass Spectrometry; Trichothecenes - adverse effects; Trichothecenes - urine; Urinalysis; urine; Young Adult; Zearalenone - adverse effects; Zearalenone - analogs & derivatives; Zearalenone - urine; environmental; mycotoxins; urine; autism
• ISSN: 2072-6651; 2072-6651
• DOI: 10.3390/toxins8070224

Evaluation of environmental risk factors in the development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is needed for a more complete understanding of disease etiology and best approaches for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. A pilot experiment in 54 children (n = 25 ASD, n = 29 controls; aged 12.4 ± 3.9 years) screened for 87 urinary mycotoxins via liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to assess current exposure. Zearalenone, zearalenone-4-glucoside, 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol, and altenuene were detected in 9/54 (20%) samples, most near the limit of detection. No mycotoxin/group of mycotoxins was associated with ASD-diagnosed children. To identify potential correlates of mycotoxin presence in urine, we further compared the nine subjects where a urinary mycotoxin was confirmed to the remaining 45 participants and found no difference based on the presence or absence of mycotoxin for age (t-test; p = 0.322), gender (Fisher’s exact test; p = 0.456), exposure or not to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (Fisher’s exact test; p = 0.367), or to other medications (Fisher’s exact test; p = 1.00). While no positive association was found, more sophisticated sample preparation techniques and instrumentation, coupled with selectivity for a smaller group of mycotoxins, could improve sensitivity and detection. Further, broadening sampling to in utero (mothers) and newborn-toddler years would cover additional exposure windows.