Autism link discovered-allele involved with the immune system

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The Utah Statesman - Utah State University

Date: 03/25/2002

Autism link discovered by scientists at Utah State U.

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(U-WIRE) LOGAN, Utah -- 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. , 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, "

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, said, in the

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 , 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, " said.

said she collaborated with on the scientific

findings and is optimistic this new gene-link discovery will aid further

research of autism causes and prevention.

" I think his [] findings are exciting, " 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 5 percent of the

funding of these other diseases.

" This is strong evidence, " 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 Health Web site at

http://health., 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.

© 2002 The Utah Statesman via U-WIRE

Copyright © 2002, University Wire, all rights reserved

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