Maybe Mitochondrial Disease is not genetic in children with autism

November 11, 2010

Below is a copy of a message I posted in another autism group.

Regards,

Re: Mitochondrial Disease

I was thinking, what if mitochondrial disorder has something to do with the

immune system just like many of the other medical problems many children with

autism have?

Below is what I found by doing a google search for " mitochondrial disease and

microglial activation " (which most children with autism suffer from).

Perhaps the same viruses like the Herpes family of viruses which attack and

damage autistic children immune systems allowing the so many infections that

they suffer from to happen is also not allowing their immune systems to be able

to delete mitochondrial DNA mutations leading to mitochondrial disease. Maybe by

treating the infections, regulating their immune systems and inhibiting

microglial activation could help these children. Maybe the mitochondrial disease

in many children with autism is not genetic, but trigger by infections...

Role of MHC Class I in Immune Surveillance of Mitochondrial DNA Integrity

" Failure of the immune surveillance to delete altered proteins resulting from

mitochondrial DNA mutations may help to explain a number of previously

unexplained observations. There is an increased prevalence of mitochondrial

mutations observed in cancer cells. These mutations may be due to the avoidance

of immune surveillance caused by deficiency in MHC I function often associated

with malignancies. A weakening of the immune system with old age may also

account for the predominance of mitochondrial deletions observed during aging.

The prevalence of autoimmune diseases, such as insulin-dependent diabetes

mellitus, associated with mitochondrial diseases may be explained by increased

MHC I expression due to decreased ROS production in these patients and

subsequent development of autoimmunity. "

Recommended Posts