Intestinal permeability and gluten and casein intolerance in children with autism spectrum disorders
Objective. To analyze correlation between the level of intestinal fatty-acid binding protein (I-FABP) and concentration of serological markers of gluten and casein intolerance in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) Patients and methods. This study included 55 children aged between 3 and 15 years diagnosed with ASD. Twenty of them followed a gluten-free diet (GFD). All patients were tested for their serum levels of anti-gliadin IgG, anti-deamidated gliadin peptide IgA, anti-casein IgG, and anti-I-FABP IgG using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). To exclude selective immunodeficiency, we also measured total IgA level. Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistica 10.0 software. We have constructed a three-dimensional surface using paired samples correlations. Results. The level of I-FABP varied between 1.63 and 209 pg/mL (mean 63.54 ± 48.5 pg/mL); its concentration decreased with age (r = -0,786). Increased levels of anti-gliadin antibodies were observed in 17.1% of children with ASD; 73.5% of patients had elevated levels of anti-casein antibodies; none of participants had anti-I-FABP antibodies. Conclusion. After constructing a multidimensional surface for three parameters, we have found certain correlations between the parameters examined, which reflects the existing relationships between them. We suggest using multidimensional descriptive statistics as the basis for constructing relationship functions in further research.