Re: Mutated Gene Raises Autism Risk

[Guest guest]

Maybe eventually mainstream doctors will stop ignoring that fact that

the majority of our kids have digestive issues and immune

dysfunction. I am so tired if it being treated as a coincidence.

Unfortunately, this will probably get brushed under the carpet along

with all the other studies that raise questions of autism being

caused by environmental assults.

>

> Mutated gene raises autism risk, US study finds By Maggie Fox,

Health

> and Science Editor

> Mon Oct 16, 6:06 PM ET

>

>

>

> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. researchers said on Monday 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. Children are usually diagnosed as 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. "

>

> QUESTIONS ABOUT VACCINES

>

> 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.

>