Mycobiome Evaluation in Children With Autism & GI Symptoms

The University of Texas System (UT)

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Gastrointenstinal Symptoms; Autism

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03494088

HSC-MS-17-1015

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study's primary aim is to explore the potential differences in the gut mycobiome of children with autism spectrum disorder compared to otherwise healthy children. The secondary objective of this study is to evaluate whether the presence of specific species of fungi (e.g. Candida tropicalis, C. albicans, or Saccharomyces cerevisiae), in stool: 1) correlates with increased gastrointestinal symptoms; 2) correlates with evidence of increased behavioral problems (as assessed by the Aberrant Behavior Checklist or Social Responsiveness Scale-2); or 3) plays the same role as a constituent of commensal gut microflora as in normal controls. The scale indicates severity of social deficits in the autism spectrum as mild, moderate or severe. Additionally, the study aims to compare the fecal and oral fungi in these children because many fecal mycobiota are felt to originate in the oropharynx.

Enrollment: 60 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 4 to 16 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• for autistic children with GI symptoms: confirmed diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and its severity (DSM-5: 299.00) by Autism Diagnostic Interview (ADI-R), Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ), and Autism Diagnostic Observation SChedule-2 (ADOS-2); substantial gastrointestinal symptoms (as indicated by score of greater than 7 on the Gastrointestinal Symptoms Severity Index)
• for autistic children without GI symptoms: confirmed diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and its severity (DSM-5: 299.00) by Autism Diagnostic Interview (ADI-R), Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ), and Autism Diagnostic Observation SChedule-2 (ADOS-2)
• for controls: healthy children

Exclusion criteria

• severe sensory impairment
• brain injury
• major psychiatric illness (e.g., psychotic disorders that might interfere with assessment). (however, children with common psychological problems such as depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder will not be excluded, given that doing so would result in a sample of children with ASD that would be unrepresentative of the pediatric ASD population as a whole.)- children who appear genetically syndromic (based on exam in the pediatric GI clinic)
• taking immunosuppressive medications
• abnormal screening labs
• GI diseases
• allergy to antibiotics
• fever or a pre-existing adverse event monitored in the study
• known history of hepatitis B/C or HIV
• known pregnancy
• use of probiotics in the last 60 d
• use of oral antibiotics/anti-fungal during the previous 2 weeks
• indwelling catheters/prosthetic devices

Trial design

60 participants in 3 patient groups

Children with Autism with gastrointestinal (GI) symtpoms

Children with Autism without gastrointestinal (GI) symtpoms

Healthy Children