Transplant drug may ease disorder linked to autism - health - 30 Ju

[Guest guest]

Click here: Transplant drug may ease disorder linked to autism - health - 30 June 2008 - New Scientist

A DRUG that prevents immune rejection in human transplant patients has improved the memory of mice with a hereditary learning disorder. The finding suggests the disorder is a result of reversible abnormalities in brain chemistry rather than irreversible differences in architecture, as was previously assumed.

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a genetic disease that causes memory and learning problems. The drug rapamycin is known to interact with an enzyme that makes proteins needed for memory - as well as suppressing immune cells - so Alcino Silva and his colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, wondered if it might have an effect on TSC. Within three days of injecting it into mice with a version of TSC, the animals were as good as normal mice at finding submerged escape platforms and hidden food in mazes (Nature Medicine, DOI: 10.1038/nm1788).

Trials are now under way in the UK to test rapamycin in people with TSC. Half of those with TSC develop autism, but whether rapamycin "would be relevant or even desirable" for people with autism is not yet clear, says Simon Baron-Cohen of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge.

Mental Health - Discover the latest research in our continuously updated special report.

From issue 2662 of New Scientist magazine, 30 June 2008, page 7