Excerpts:
“Animal models of neurological disease plainly suggest that the ubiquitous presence of Al in human beings implicates Al toxicants as causally involved in Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS), Alzheimer’s disease and autism spectrum disorders.”
“All these findings plausibly implicate Al adjuvants in pediatric vaccines as causal factors contributing to increased rates of autism spectrum disorders in countries where multiple doses are almost universally administered.“
Results
The CDDS and IDEA data sets are qualitatively consistent in suggesting a strong increase in autism prevalence over recent decades. The quantitative comparison of IDEA snapshot and constant-age tracking trend slopes suggests that ~75-80% of the tracked increase in autism since 1988 is due to an actual increase in the disorder rather than to changing diagnostic criteria. Most of the suspected environmental toxins examined have flat or decreasing temporal trends that correlate poorly to the rise in autism. Some, including lead, organochlorine pesticides and vehicular emissions, have strongly decreasing trends. Among the suspected toxins surveyed, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, aluminum adjuvants, and the herbicide glyphosate have increasing trends that correlate positively to the rise in autism.
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are complex, heterogeneous disorders caused by an interaction between genetic vulnerability and environmental factors. In an effort to better target the underlying roots of ASD for diagnosis and treatment, efforts to identify reliable biomarkers in genetics, neuroimaging, gene expression, and measures of the body’s metabolism are growing. For this article, we review the published studies of potential biomarkers in autism and conclude that while there is increasing promise of finding biomarkers that can help us target treatment, there are none with enough evidence to support routine clinical use unless medical illness is suspected. Promising biomarkers include those for mitochondrial function, oxidative stress, and immune function. Genetic clusters are also suggesting the potential for useful biomarkers.
Excerpt: “A recent review assessed the research on physiological abnormalities associated with ASD (44). The authors identified four main mechanisms that have been increasingly studied during the past decade: immunologic/inflammation, oxidative stress, environmental toxicants, and mitochondrial abnormalities. In addition, there is accumulating research on the lipid, GI systems, microglial activation, and the microbiome, and how these can also contribute to generating biomarkers associated with ASD (45, 46).
Pathways are interconnected with a defect in one likely leading to dysfunction in others. Many metabolic disorders can lead to endpoints such as impaired methylation, sulfuration, and detoxification pathways and nutritional deficiencies. Mitochondrial dysfunction, environmental risk factors, metabolic imbalances, and genetic susceptibility can all lead to oxidative stress (47), which in turn leads to inflammation, damaged cell membranes, autoimmunity (48), impaired methylation (49), cell death (48), and neurological deficits (50). The brain is highly vulnerable to oxidative stress (51), particularly in children (52) during the early part of development (47). As environmental events and metabolic imbalances affect oxidative stress and methylation, they also can affect the expression of genes.”
Abstract
Regulatory T cells play a critical role in the immune response to vaccination, but there is only a limited understanding of the response of regulatory T cells to aluminum adjuvants and the vaccines that contain them. Available studies in animal models show that although induced T regulatory cells may be induced concomitantly with effector T cells following aluminum-adjuvanted vaccination, they are unable to protect against sensitization, suggesting that under the Th2 immune-stimulating effects of aluminum adjuvants, Treg cells may be functionally compromised. Allergic diseases are characterized by immune dysregulation, with increases in IL-4 and IL-6, both of which exert negative effects on Treg function. For individuals with a genetic predisposition, the beneficial influence of adjuvants on immune responsiveness may be accompanied by immune dysregulation, leading to allergic diseases. This review examines aspects of the regulatory T cell response to aluminum-adjuvanted immunization and possible genetic susceptibility factors related to that response.
Conclusion
There is now sufficient evidence from both human and animal studies showing that cumulative exposure to aluminium adjuvants is not as benign as previously assumed. Given that vaccines are the only medical intervention that we attempt to deliver to every living human on earth and that by far the largest target population for vaccination are healthy children, a better appreciation and understanding of vaccine adjuvant risks appears warranted.
Excerpt:
“These findings suggest that infantile zinc- and magnesium-deficiency and/or toxic metal burdens may be critical and induce epigenetic alterations in the genes and genetic regulation mechanisms of neurodevelopment in the autistic children, and demonstrate that a time factor “infantile window” is also critical for neurodevelopment and probably for therapy. Thus, early metallomics analysis may lead to early screening/estimation and treatment/prevention for the autistic neurodevelopment disorders.”
Excerpt
“Male mice in the “high Al” group showed significant changes in light–dark box tests and in various measures of behaviour in an open field. Female mice showed significant changes in the light–dark box at both doses, but no significant changes in open field behaviours. These current data implicate Al injected in early postnatal life in some CNS alterations that may be relevant for a better understanding of the aetiology of ASD.”
Excerpt:
“In young children, a highly significant correlation exists between the number of pediatric aluminum-adjuvanted vaccines administered and the rate of autism spectrum disorders. Many of the features of aluminum-induced neurotoxicity may arise, in part, from autoimmune reactions, as part of the ASIA syndrome.”
Excerpts:
“Intramuscular injection of alum-containing vaccine was associated with the appearance of aluminum deposits in distant organs, such as spleen and brain where they were still detected one year after injection.”
“Cerebral translocation was not observed after direct intravenous injection, but significantly increased in mice with chronically altered blood-brain-barrier.”
Conclusion
Nanomaterials can be transported by monocyte-lineage cells to DLNs, blood and spleen, and, similarly to HIV, may use CCL2-dependent mechanisms to penetrate the brain. This occurs at a very low rate in normal conditions explaining good overall tolerance of alum despite its strong neurotoxic potential. However, continuously escalating doses of this poorly biodegradable adjuvant in the population may become insidiously unsafe, especially in the case of overimmunization or immature/altered blood brain barrier or high constitutive CCL-2 production.
Excerpt:
“We propose that children with the autism diagnosis are especially vulnerable to toxic metals such as aluminum and mercury due to insufficient serum sulfate and glutathione. A strong correlation between autism and the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccine is also observed, which may be partially explained via an increased sensitivity to acetaminophen administered to control fever.”
