Article - Mutated gene raises autism risk, study finds

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Mutated gene raises autism risk, study finds

POSTED: 7:12 p.m. EDT, October 16, 2006

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. researchers said Monday that they had

identified a genetic mutation that raises the risk of autism and

could also explain some of the other symptoms seen in children with

autism.

Although autism and similar disorders can clearly run in families,

theirs is the first study to find a definitive genetic link to the

disorder, which affects as many as 1 in 175 U.S. children.

Dr. Pat Levitt and colleagues at Vanderbilt University in Nashville,

Tennessee, studied 743 families in which 1,200 family members were

affected by autism spectrum disorders, which range from fully

disabling autism to Asperger's syndrome.

They found a single mutation in a gene called MET, which is known to

be involved in brain development, regulation of the immune system and

repair of the gastrointestinal system. All of these systems can be

affected in children with autism.

" This is a vulnerability gene, " Levitt said in a telephone

interview. " There are not genes that actually cause autism. It raises

the risk. "

People with two copies of the mutated gene have 2 to 2.5 times the

normal risk of autism and people with one mutated copy have 1.7 times

the risk, he said.

The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences, offer a way to start looking for the actual causes of

autism, Levitt said.

Autism can cause a range of symptoms, from fairly mild social

dysfunction to severe and disabling learning and social impairments.

Researchers knew it could run in families, but the cause has been

unknown. Autism is usually diagnosed in toddlers, with parents often

describing a sudden regression in abilities and behavior. There is no

known cure.

Levitt said the mutation does not change the function of the gene,

but changes gene expression -- how active the gene is.

Levitt says his team will now try to make a rat or a mouse with the

same genetic mutation and use it to study what in the environment

might cause autism in people with the mutation.

" It may be more than one thing, " Levitt said.

" Let's say it is exposure to some chemical. It is a long list of

everything from food additives to mercury to fertilizers. This will

help. "

Levitt said his study may help answer questions about links between

vaccines and autism.

Experts virtually all agree that vaccines do not cause autism but

some parents remain mistrustful. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention has launched a series of studies into the potential

causes of autism.

In a second study, a team at Cornell University and Indiana

University-Purdue University found that television viewing may be a

factor among American children.

Waldman of Cornell University and colleagues found that

children from rainy U.S. counties watch more television and autism

rates corresponded with this pattern.

" The analysis shows that early childhood television viewing could be

an environmental trigger for the onset of autism and strongly points

to the need for more research by experts in the field of autism, "

said Waldman, who will present his findings on Friday to a conference

of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

A third team of researchers found that the brain regions of adults

with autism may not communicate with each other as efficiently as

they do in other people.

Murias and colleagues at the University of Washington used

high-resolution electroencephalography or EEG to find patterns of

abnormal connectivity between brain regions in 36 people with autism.

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