May traffic air pollution be involved in autism spectrum disorder?

The study by Pei Chen-Lee et al. (2016) reported that a combination of urban traffic-derived air pollution and genetic polymorphism in inflammatory genes may play a role in causing neurodegenerative disorders e.g. Parkinson's disease. Lee and his team showed a relationship between NO2 exposure and the IL1Β rs16944 genotype in the susceptibility with the onset of PD. This issue has been as well addressed also for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) through a meta-analysis showing that the incidence of ASD can increase by exposure to air-borne pollutants and other studies. The cytokine IL-1Β plays a fundamental role in innate immunity but also in several mechanisms involving neurons and the astrocyte-neuron relationship. This suggests that the relationship between immune response elicited by microbes and/or chemical pollutants in traffic-air borne PM10 and oral innate immunity is fundamental also in elucidating some neurological disorders e.g. ASD.