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The Immune Taboo

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The immune system is critically involved in autism. Of course, there are still a lot of questions to answer, particularly whether dysregulation of the immune system is the cause or a consequence of autism among others. But it is not studied enough. This week’s podcast includes new studies that examine the role of the immune system in autism, and outlines the different theories of how the immune system is involved in ASD.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41345879

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889159125004490?via%3Dihub

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-025-03349-7

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41125877

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-025-02162-8

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To see differences in the brains of males and females with autism, you have to look at the brains of males and females with autism

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Last month, UC Davis researcher Cyndi Schumann used resources for the Autism BrainNet to look at what causes differences in the rates of diagnosis between males and females.  Consistent with other studies on this topic, males and females don’t show differences in the rates of autism genes, but rather in the way that the brain controls other genes that code for things like neuroinflammation and development.  Clearly more studies are necessary but it is consistent with the Female Protective Effect in autism.  The full text can be found here:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5294827/

And also, there was a study on genital herpes and autism that CNN got totally wrong.