Genetics Of Autism
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Kate | Tuesday, August 2, 2005 |
More evidence of a genetic basis for autism;
Using DNA samples from 120 families likely to possess a genetic risk factor on chromosome 17, the team found 19 different SERT mutations ( or variants ) in families with multiple affected males, consistent with the well-known sex-bias seen in autism incidence.
Four of these variants were in ‘coding’ regions, or parts of the gene that get translated into protein. The other 15 variants were in ‘noncoding’ regions, which are edited out of the final protein product but may have important regulatory roles in the expression of the gene. “These coding mutations tracked with an increased severity of rigid- compulsive behaviors,” Sutcliffe explained. These types of behaviors are a common characteristic of autism and related disorders like obsessive-compulsive disorders.
The findings underscore the relationship between autism and disorders like OCD and may explain why SSRIs are effective in treating these conditions, he said.
[...]
Based on these findings, Blakely and Sutcliffe predict that there will one day be a way to test autistic children for these gene variants, similar to the testing done for cystic fibrosis, a disease linked to a single gene but triggered by many different mutations.
“Autism has such a high genetic risk, but these new findings suggest that there may be many variants of individual genes at work,” Blakely said.
With such genetic testing, said Sutcliffe, “you might be able to predict which kids would respond positively to particular SSRI medications.”
“We now have concrete evidence in our families that the SERT gene is a risk factor in autism,” Blakely said. “Perhaps more importantly, we also have new pathways that could have some therapeutic end points, and that, to us, is really good news.”
About the Author: Kate is a freelance commercial and automotive airbrush artist living in Saskatchewan, Canada. She was one of the original guest bloggers at OTB in November 2004 and soon joined the permanent stable, contributing through January 2007.
Eventually, she turned to writing full time at her own blog, small dead animals, which was voted the Best Canadian Blog in the 2004 Weblog Awards and has been generally considered that country's best blog ever since.
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Unfortunately, this will do nothing to shut up the vaccine conspiracy crackpots, no matter how many rooftops it gets shouted from...
I have a child with autism, and I have long believed it is a genetic thing more than anything else. I have also long believed the OCD and other neurological disorders likely involve the same cluster of genes as autism.
When I look back to his infancy, you could see small signs of the disorder in him even then-it is just at the time I didn't realize it was autism.
I am interested to see where the gene studies end up going, and what they discover.
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