Selected Papers from CUBANNI 2017—“The Fourth International Workshop of Neuroimmunology”

Starting from the most interesting papers presented at CUBANNI 2017, the First International Meeting of the Cuban Network of Neuroimmunology, this eBook covers the most up-to-date findings on neuroimmunology research. The topics of the selected papers range from clinical to pre-clinical models, as well as in vitro basic research. Scientific areas covered are autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, and seizures, with emphasis on epigenetics and experimental models. Neuroinflammation, neuroplasticity, and neurodegenerative processes, biomarker discovery, and the molecular pathways involved are proposed. Additionally as one of the most current and relevant topics published, Tamara da Silva Vaccaro et al proved relevant results on “Alterations in the MicroRNA and their effects on Epigenetic Regulation and Potential Biomarkers in ASD” and Lázaro Gómez et al also published interesting results on Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Immune Dysregulation in Autism Spectrum Disorder: What Do We Know about It?

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of complex multifactorial neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by a wide and variable set of neuropsychiatric symptoms, including deficits in social communication, narrow and restricted interests, and repetitive behavior. The immune hypothesis is considered to be a major factor contributing to autism pathogenesis, as well as a way to explain the differences of the clinical phenotypes and comorbidities influencing disease course and severity. Evidence highlights a link between immune dysfunction and behavioral traits in autism from several types of evidence found in both cerebrospinal fluid and peripheral blood and their utility to identify autistic subgroups with specific immunophenotypes; underlying behavioral symptoms are also shown. This review summarizes current insights into immune dysfunction in ASD, with particular reference to the impact of immunological factors related to the maternal influence of autism development; comorbidities influencing autism disease course and severity; and others factors with particular relevance, including obesity. Finally, we described main elements of similarities between immunopathology overlapping neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders, taking as examples autism and Parkinson Disease, respectively