UK Scientists on Track of Autism Genes

LONDON (Reuters Health) Aug 06 - Scientists at Oxford University said on Monday that they are zeroing in on genes that might make children susceptible to developing autism.

Their discovery that sections of certain chromosomes are linked to the disorder helps confirm other research showing there is an inherited component to the condition. Pinpointing the genes involved could help doctors develop treatments for the baffling condition, which strikes at least 5 in 10,000 children within the first 3 years of life.

"Currently there is no consensus amongst researchers about what is actually going wrong in the brain when a child develops autism," said Professor Anthony Monaco, director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at Oxford. However, "the discovery of these regions...confirms the genetic component of autism and will enable us to narrow our search down to specific genes and the functions they control. This should cast light on what is going wrong, and hopefully give us clues on how autism could be treated."

The scientists, who are part of the International Molecular Genetic Study of Autism Consortium, screened the genomes of over 150 pairs of siblings with autism. They found two regions on chromosomes 2 and 17 that may house genes responsible for susceptibility to the disease.

In addition, their study shored up previous findings that areas on chromosomes 7 and 16 are also significant in determining if an individual is likely to develop autism.

Members of the international research team, which includes scientists from Europe and the US, are now planning to extend their work to identify the specific genes responsible for the condition, Monaco told Reuters Health. These genes are believed to play a key role in brain development and signalling.

Monaco said the international study would focus on identifying those genes that show signs of mutation. "Gene mutations show susceptibility to disease and that is what we are looking for in this study. Why we have mutations, we are presently unable to say."