Liu, HuaZimmerman, Andrew W.Singh, KanwaljitConnors, SusanDiggins, EileenStephenson, Katherine K.Dinkova-Kostova, Albena T.Fahey, Jed W.2022-08-232022-08-232020-04-022020-05-14<p>Liu H, Zimmerman AW, Singh K, Connors SL, Diggins E, Stephenson KK, Dinkova-Kostova AT, Fahey JW. Biomarker Exploration in Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells for Monitoring Sulforaphane Treatment Responses in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Sci Rep. 2020 Apr 2;10(1):5822. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-62714-4. PMID: 32242086; PMCID: PMC7118069. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62714-4">Link to article on publisher's site</a></p>2045-2322 (Linking)10.1038/s41598-020-62714-432242086https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/41451Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders with no drugs treating the core symptoms and no validated biomarkers for clinical use. The multi-functional phytochemical sulforaphane affects many of the biochemical abnormalities associated with ASD. We investigated potential molecular markers from three ASD-associated physiological pathways that can be affected by sulforaphane: redox metabolism/oxidative stress; heat shock response; and immune dysregulation/inflammation, in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from healthy donors and patients with ASD. We first analyzed the mRNA levels of selected molecular markers in response to sulforaphane ex vivo treatment in PBMCs from healthy donors by real-time quantitative PCR. All of the tested markers showed quantifiability, accuracy and reproducibility. We then compared the expression levels of those markers in PBMCs taken from ASD patients in response to orally-delivered sulforaphane. The mRNA levels of cytoprotective enzymes (NQO1, HO-1, AKR1C1), and heat shock proteins (HSP27 and HSP70), increased. Conversely, mRNA levels of pro-inflammatory markers (IL-6, IL-1beta, COX-2 and TNF-alpha) decreased. Individually none is sufficiently specific or sensitive, but when grouped by function as two panels, these biomarkers show promise for monitoring pharmacodynamic responses to sulforaphane in both healthy and autistic humans, and providing guidance for biomedical interventions.en-USOpen Access: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/BiomarkersDiseasesMedical researchAmino Acids, Peptides, and ProteinsBiochemical Phenomena, Metabolism, and NutritionBiochemistryBiological FactorsEnzymes and CoenzymesNervous System DiseasesNeurologyNeuroscience and NeurobiologyNucleic Acids, Nucleotides, and NucleosidesPsychiatry and PsychologyJournal Articlehttps://escholarship.umassmed.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5249&amp;context=oapubs&amp;unstamped=1https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/oapubs/423017740873oapubs/4230