Clinical trial NCT02674022: Screening for Metabolic Problems in Mothers of Children With Autism and Typically Developing Children
Official title: Screening for Metabolic Problems in Women, and Possible Treatment With Vitamin/Mineral Supplement
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Pregnancy
Autistic Disorder
Folic Acid Deficiency
Keywords: Maternal Health
Autistic Disorder
Metabolism
Folic Acid
Lead sponsor: Mayo Clinic
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Arizona State University
First posted: 2016-02-04
Enrollment: 59
Sex: FEMALE
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: The purpose of this research study is to screen for metabolic abnormalities that are maternal risk factors for having a child with autism.

Detailed description: The study will involve recruitment of 30 mothers of young children with ASD (ages 3-5 years) and 30 mothers of non-ASD children of similar age, respectively labelled ASD-moms and non-ASD-moms. In Phase 1, the levels of certain folate-related and oxidative stress biomarkers (folate, vitamin B12, vitamin E, homocysteine, methylmalonic acid, urinary isoprostanes) and MTHFR mutation analysis will be measured in all the mothers. The investigators expect that approximately 40-50% of the ASD-mothers and approximately 5-10% of the non-ASD-mothers will have abnormal homocysteine levels. In Phase 2, for those mothers with abnormal homocysteine levels, the investigators will treat them with a standard prenatal supplement for 4 weeks, and re-measure their biomarkers. The investigators expect 75-100% of the non-ASD mothers to respond, but only 25-50% of the ASD-mothers to respond. In Phase 3, for those mothers who did not respond to the standard prenatal supplement, the investigators will treat them with an optimized prenatal supplement for 4 weeks and remeasure their biomarkers. The investigators expect that 75-100% of the mothers of both groups will respond to this improved prenatal supplement.

Eligibility criteria: Mothers of children with autism (age 3-5) or typically-developing children (age 3-5) who are not currently taking prenatal vitamins/multivitamins.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Homocysteine level
timeFrame: 8-10 weeks
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Scottsdale
country: United States
facility: Mayo Clinic in Arizona
state: Arizona
Study officials:
affiliation: Mayo Clinic
name: Bryan Woodruff, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: James SJ, Melnyk S, Jernigan S, Pavliv O, Trusty T, Lehman S, Seidel L, Gaylor DW, Cleves MA. A functional polymorphism in the reduced folate carrier gene and DNA hypomethylation in mothers of children with autism. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2010 Sep;153B(6):1209-20. doi: 10.1002/ajmg.b.31094.
citation: James SJ, Melnyk S, Jernigan S, Hubanks A, Rose S, Gaylor DW. Abnormal Transmethylation/transsulfuration Metabolism and DNA Hypomethylation Among Parents of Children with Autism. J Autism Dev Disord. 2008 Nov;38(10):1976. doi: 10.1007/s10803-008-0614-2. No abstract available.