From Reuters, the Washington Post, Time magazine, ABC News and elsewhere:

A study published in the journal Science says researchers have identified at least six new genes that appear to underlie autism, and “said they suggest it may be possible to treat it sometimes.”

The study suggests that some of the genes can be turned on or off by mental activity.

The fact that three of the half-dozen genes identified in the new report are regulated by “neuronal activity” — feeling, thinking, doing — suggests in theory that changing the experiences of autistic children could change the course of the disease.

“The genes implicated in our study are ones that interact with the environment and are involved in how the brain converts what it sees from the environment,” said Christopher A. Walsh, a neurologist and chief of genetics at Children’s Hospital in Boston who headed the team. “If we can activate those genes by other mechanisms, we might be able to help the kids.”

The study is based on scans of 104 families in the United States, Pakistan, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in which autism is unusually common. In 88, the parents were cousins. The average family had two autistic children. One Kuwaiti and one Pakistani family, however, each had four.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 11th, 2008 at 3:49 am and is filed under autism, genetics, research news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post