Gene Research Heightens Hope for Curing Autism

by Anna Boyd
15:17, July 13th 2008
http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Gene_Research_Heightens_Hope_For_Curing_Autism_20270.html

U.S. researchers have found six new genes involved in autism. More exactly, they found that these genes are responsible for new brain connections needed in the process of learning.

What was really impressive was that these genes were turned off and their silence places them among many mutations that lead to the devastating disorder. Finding ways to turn them on might lead to curing autism, according to the study’s authors.

Autism is a spectrum of different disorders ranging in severity and in symptoms from the mild Asperger’s syndrome to more severe autism. The disease, characterized by poor social interactions, impaired communication and repetitive behavior, affects as many as 1 in every 150 kids in the U.S., according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For the study, Dr. Christopher A. Walsh and Dr. Eric Morrow of Harvard Medical School in Boston and colleagues analyzed 104 Muslim families from a series of Middle East countries, in which there was a high incidence of autism. In Middle East countries, there is an increased tendency for cousins to marry, raising kids’ odds of inheriting rare mutations. There were 88 such families involved in the study.

The genetic analysis of these families revealed that autism is not only caused by the deletion of some genes but also by turning off other genes. These particular genes cause disruptions in the brain’s ability to form new connections in response to experience.

The good news is that these genes involved in autism were just turned off and not deleted. Now the only thing that researchers need to do is to find ways to turn these genes on in order to improve and eventually cure autism.

"Interestingly, not all the affected genes were actually deleted, but only prevented from turning on, offering hope that therapies could be developed to reactivate the genes," the researchers wrote in the July 11 edition of the journal Science.