Early Screening Study for ASD

Validation of a new early screening test for ASD in Chinese toddlers

PI: Xue-Jun Kong, MD

The current average age for ASD diagnosis is about 2-7 years old. However, ASD individuals already show signs as early as infancy. The development of easily implementable early detection tools and screening tests has drawn great attention in recent years. RITA-T is a new protocol first published in 2015 and has only been used on limited subjects, with no further improvement since then. Our team aims to validate this method in additional populations, particularly in Chinese children, and investigate whether the protocol could be improved. We will use RITA-T itself, in its original form and after some modifications, to better characterize the psychological properties of ASD individuals. After the RITA-T evaluation, we will go through the standard DSM-5 evaluation to assess the accuracy of this new protocol. We will use the gold standard DSM-5 and ADOS-2, along with eye-tracking studies using different paradigms to guide the further development of RITA-T and other screening tools in order to achieve an optimal protocol with the best sensitivity and the greatest simplicity. Considering the difficulty of optimizing both, a reasonable balance would be used to make a decision. Based on previous research, we expect to attain -70% sensitivity. This project is currently closed and has active data analysis.

Posters:
Poster presented in INSAR 2019, Canada

Gut-brain Axis and ASD

Comparison of Oral and Gut Microbiota in Patients with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Neurotypical Controls- A Pilot Study

MGH 2017P000573, PI: Xue-Jun Kong, MD

Microbiome status in the gut is thought to be associated with autism development, including behavior changes. Over-presentation of pathogenic strains such as Clostridium and suppression of normal resident bacteria in the gut have been reported. Research suggests that gut microbiome plays critical roles in gastrointestinal and possibly behavioral symptoms in patients with autism. However, the oral microbiome is relatively understudied compared to the gut microbiome. Currently, it is unknown whether or how oral microbiome is associated with gut microbiome in neurodevelopmental diseases such as ASD. We believe that this study would benefit this frontier of biomedical research. We hope that our research will help to guide current clinical practice and to develop novel therapeutic interventions. This project is currently open for recruitment

Status: finished with two publications, orally presented at Cold Spring Harbor Asia conferences in Suzhou, China 2018

PWS and ASD

Prader-Willi Syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorder

MGH 2018P001359, PI: Xue-Jun Kong, MD

Status: completed/closed, poster presented at INSAR 2019, Canada

MGH 2018P000740, PI: Xue-Jun Kong
Autism Spectrum Disorder and Prader-Willi Syndrome: a US-Sino Survey Study
Status: inactive

These studies aim to explore the relationship between PWS and ASD

Probiotics and Oxytocin Trial for ASD

The Effects of Probiotics and Oxytocin Nasal Spray on Social Behaviors of ASD Patients- A Pilot Study.

MGH 2017P001667, PI: Xue-Jun Kong, MD

Animal studies have shown that probiotics can induce the release of endogenous oxytocin (OXT). While many benefits have been attributed to probiotics in reducing GI discomfort in ASD, OXT is proposed to play a role in the brain-gut connection during the administration of probiotics in an autism treatment trial. We hypothesize that probiotic-induced endogenous oxytocin could improve social behaviors in ASD individuals. If OXT is confirmed to be the missing link of the gut-brain connection and probiotics can improve the social behaviors of ASD, probiotics will be valued for its safety for ASD management and should motivate more advanced research leading to wide acceptance and compliance from patients and their family. Our study is also to examine whether probiotics can further enhance the beneficial effects of the exogenous OXT given by intranasal spray, and its correlation with the changes in brain imaging studies such as MRI and fMRI, biomarkers, and autonomic dysfunctions. This study is registered as NCT03337035 on clinicaltrial.gov. The outcome measurements include ABC, SRS, microbiome, blood oxytocin level, inflammation markers, eye tracking, emotion recognition, autonomic index, brain MRI.

Status: finished, active for ongoing data analysis, protocol published