Despite recent research into Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcus (PANDAS) and Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS), clinicians and researchers often struggle to differentiate childhood OCD and PANDAS/PANS. These two conditions require different clinical treatment protocols, but there is no biological test to confirm that a child indeed does have PANDAS/PANS vs. OCD.

Dr. Breithaupt and her team analyzed biological data from a total of 476 children with PANDAS/PANS, a group of children with PANDAS/PANS who have symptoms that make it difficult for them to eat (avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, or ARFID), as well as a group of children with more typical childhood OCD, and a group of healthy children. Using machine learning — a form of artificial intelligence — they sifted through this large volume of data to find hidden patterns and biomarkers that distinguish these conditions. They found that several proteins involved in neuroinflammation and/or neural plasticity and immune regulation had different patterns in children with OCD compared to controls. This suggests that immune dysfunction can contribute to compulsions. Some proteins were found to be biomarkers for PANDAS/PANS, as they were elevated compared to controls. There were differences in how proteins were expressed in children with OCD and PANDAS/PANS, showing that there are different patterns of immune dysfunction in these groups as well.

Publications are currently pending.