6.30 Biological and Psychosocial Correlates of Social Cognition in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Abstract

The dysfunctional immune responses in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) associated with increased impairments in social cognition and the impact of interpersonal and social stress in ASD on inflammatory pathways are well known. The connection between psychosocial stress, the immune system, and core deficits may provide greater insight into this debilitating disorder. Our major objectives include: 1) to examine the association of psychosocial stress with measures of social cognition; and 2) to assess the relationship between peripheral inflammatory and neurotrophic proteins, psychosocial stress, and social cognition. Preliminary analysis includes 30 adolescents ages 13 to 17 years old (N = 16 ASD; 12.5% female; N = 14 typically developed [TD; controls]; 21% female]. The Social Responsiveness Scale, Second Edition (SRS-2) was administered to measure social interaction and communication deficits. The Child and Adult versions of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Tests (RMET-C and RMET-A, respectively) were administered as measures of theory of mind. Psychosocial stress measures included the Expressed Emotion (EE) assessed by the Five-Minute Speech Sample, NIH PROMIS scales. ProcartaPlex bead-based multiplex immunoassays were performed for simultaneous detection and quantitation of multiple protein targets in a subset of the plasma. Youth with ASD demonstrated higher familial EE than TD, although it was not statistically significant (p = 0.2). Parent-reported psychological stress in youth with ASD was significantly greater than TD (p = 0.001). Youth with ASD described greater impairments in peer relationships than TD youth (p = 0.004). Youth with ASD with greater psychological stress and impaired family and peer relationships demonstrated more errors on the RMET-A (p = 0.003, p = 0.03, and p = 0.009, respectively). Higher scores on the SRS-2 were seen in youth with ASD with greater psychosocial stress in EE and PROMIS measures, but this did not reach statistical significance. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) demonstrated significant associations with measures of psychological stress (p = 0.07 and p = 0.01, respectively), but no group differences were noted. The preliminary results are consistent with our hypotheses suggesting the presence of higher psychosocial stress in youth with ASD that contributes to greater impairments in social cognition and a dysregulated immune profile. Further analyses with the larger dataset could help identify risk factors that may affect the development and/or maintenance of these deficits and be prime targets for intervention.