Investigation of Neuronal-Astroglial Injury Proteins and MMP-9 Serum Levels in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Their Relationship With Autistic Regression.

Objective: This study compared serum levels of S100B, GFAP, UCHL-1, NF-H and MMP-9 between children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and controls, focusing on their association with regression in ASD. We hypothesized that neuroinflammation and neuronal/astroglial damage markers would be higher in the ASD group than in controls and even more elevated in the regressive ASD subgroup compared to the non-regressive subgroup.

Methods: The study included 50 children with ASD (ages 4-10) and 30 healthy children.