Environment, dysbiosis, immunity and sex-specific susceptibility: A translational hypothesis for regressive autism pathogenesis

AbstractBackgroundAutism is an increasing neurodevelopmental disease that appears by 3 years of age, has genetic and/or environmental etiology, and often shows comorbid situations, such as gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. Autism has also a striking sex-bias, not fully genetically explainable.ObjectiveOur goal was to explain how and in which predisposing conditions some compounds can impair neurodevelopment, why this occurs in the first years of age, and, primarily, why more in males than females.MethodsWe reviewed articles regarding the genetic and environmental etiology of autism and toxins effects on animal models selected from PubMed and databases about autism and toxicology.DiscussionOur hypothesis proposes that in the first year of life, the decreasing of maternal immune protection and child immune-system immaturity create an immune vulnerability to infection diseases that, especially if treated with antibiotics, could facilitate dysbiosis and GI disorders. This condition triggers a vicious circle be...