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Middle Eastern families yield intriguing clues to autism

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Research involving large Middle Eastern families, sophisticated genetic analysis and groundbreaking neuroscience has implicated a half-dozen new genes in autism. More importantly, it strongly supports the emerging idea that autism stems from disruptions in the brain's ability to form new connections in response to experience – consistent with autism's onset during the first year of life, when many of these connections are normally made.

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 study, led by researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and members of the Boston-based Autism Consortium, is the cover article in the July 11 issue of Science.

Autism genes have been difficult to identify because the disorder is complex, with a variety of causes stemming from many possible genes or combinations of genes. In addition, since people with autism tend not to have children, most of the genes identified thus far aren't inherited from a parent, but instead are mutated during embryonic development, making them hard to track through traditional linkage studies in families.

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2 responses // Middle Eastern families yield intriguing clues to autism

  • That's great! I really hope they figure out a way to turn those genes on. Autism is such a sad disorder.

    We're getting closer to solving it I think .
    onechance
  • Autism is epidemic. One in 161 children are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

    This is good news. But people should also look into the mercury/autism connection.

    Whether or not autism causes gene mutations, we have to figure out why these autism has increased so drastically in so short a time period.
    TouchArt

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