An antibiotic for autism, neurologic, psychiatric illness? New fad or New Tool?

Go to:

Abstract

An antibiotic for autism, neurologic, psychiatric illness? New fad or New Tool? Two articles - One treatment trial and a review. - JR

Mol Autism. 2016 Jan 14;7:2. doi: 10.1186/s13229-015-0062-8. eCollection 2016.

A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of D-cycloserine for the enhancement of social skills training in autism spectrum disorders.

Minshawi NF1, Wink LK2, Shaffer R2, Plawecki MH1, Posey DJ3, Liu H4, Hurwitz S5, McDougle CJ6, Swiezy NB1, Erickson CA2.

Author information

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Researchers have demonstrated that d-cycloserine (DCS) can enhance the effects of behavioral interventions in adults with anxiety and enhances prosocial behavior in animal models of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This study extended upon this background by combining DCS with behavioral social skills therapy in youth with ASD to assess its impact on the core social deficits of ASD. We hypothesized that DCS used in combination with social skills training would enhance the acquisition of social skills in children with ASD.

METHODS:

A 10-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of DCS (50 mg) given 30 min prior to weekly group social skills training was conducted at two sites. Children with ASD were randomized to receive 10 weeks (10 doses) of DCS or placebo in a 1:1 ratio.

RESULTS:

No statistically significant difference attributable to drug treatment was observed in the change scores for the primary outcome measure, the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), total score (p = 0.45), or on secondary outcome measures.

CONCLUSIONS:

The results of this trial demonstrated no drug-related short-term improvement on the primary outcome measure, or any of the secondary outcome measures. However, an overall significant improvement in SRS total raw score was observed from baseline to end of treatment for the entire group of children with ASD. This suggests a need to further study the efficacy of the social skills training protocol. Limitations to the current study and areas for future research are discussed.

TRIAL REGISTRATION:

ClinicalTrials.govNCT01086475.

D-Cycloserine in Neuropsychiatric Diseases: A Systematic Review

Sebastian Schade, MD and Walter Paulus, MD

Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2016 Apr; 19(4): pyv102.

Published online 2015 Sep 12. doi:  10.1093/ijnp/pyv102

Abstract

D-Cycloserine, known from tuberculosis therapy, has been widely introduced to neuropsychiatric studies, since its central active mechanism as a partial NMDA-agonist has been found. In this review, we evaluate its therapeutic potential in neuropsychological disorders and discuss its pitfalls in terms of dosing and application frequency as well as its safety in low-dose therapy. Therefore, we identified 91 clinical trials by performing a Medline search. We demonstrate in part preliminary but increasing evidence that D-cycloserine may be effective in various psychiatric diseases, including schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, addiction, eating disorders, major depression, and autism as well as in neurological diseases, including dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and spinocerebellar degeneration. D-Cycloserine in low-dose therapy is safe, but there is still a need for new drugs with higher specificity to the different N-methyl-D-aspartate-receptor subunits.

© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of CINP.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4851259/