Autism link discovered by scientists at USU
Scientists at Utah State University recently discovered a certain allele involved with the immune system is linked to the developmental disorder known as autism.
Dr. Anthony Torres, director for the Center for Persons with Disabilities (CPD) who is the head of the research project at USU, said the recent study has shown a specific gene through the father’s chromosomes have been linked, causing this allele, or part of a gene, to travel through families.
“This is an important step in the search for gene involvement in autism,” Torres said. “Autism is a major topic in research medicine because the incidence of the disease appears to be increasing.”
The research on autism at USU began about 15 years ago, Torres said, in the Reed Warren Laboratory located in the CPD. A group of scientists consisting of several technicians, doctors, students and premedical and predental students have been working on this project.
“Autism is a severely handicapping disorder which begins at birth or within the first two and a half years of life,” according to the Autism Research Institute at www.autism.com/ari. Autism has experienced an enormous worldwide increase. In the 1990s it affected five out of 10,000 children and now affects 60 out of 10,000 children, according to the Web site.
“This is important information and encourages us to look further,” said Dr. Karin Nelson, a leading researcher in autism with the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Md., who was involved in the USU discovery.
“There is still a long way to go in finding the cause of autism, but it gives us a good direction,” Nelson said.
Nelson said she collaborated with Torres on the scientific findings and is optimistic this new gene-link discovery will aid further research of autism causes and prevention.
“I think his [Torres] findings are exciting,” Nelson said. “It definitely helps our direction for research and gives us a lot of hope.”
According to the Cure Autism Now Organization, www.cureautismnow.org, autism is a “national crisis” and is now the third most common developmental disorder. It has become more common than Down’s syndrome, multiple sclerosis and cystic fibrosis, yet autism research receives less than five percent of the funding of these other diseases.
“This is strong evidence,” Torres said, who said she is hopeful the discovery of the gene link will set future researchers on the right path to learning more about autism. “No one has recognized this before. We’ve shown linkage.”
The symptoms of autism, according to the Yahoo! Health Web site at http://health.yahoo.com, affect a child’s communication and language skills, social interactions and friend-making abilities, sensory impairment, interest in group play and behavior.
According to the Web site, children who are suspected to have autism can receive an audiologic evaluation, a blood test and a screening test for autism, such as the Checklist for Autism Toddlers (CHAT) or the Autism Screening Questionnaire.