By Earl Lane
Newsday

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WASHINGTON — The latest study on secretin, touted a few years ago as a possible cure for autism, has failed to show that the digestive hormone has any significant impact on the disorder.

The new study by researchers at the University of Washington and the University of Colorado is a setback for parents whose hopes were raised by a 1998 study reporting marked improvement in the behavior of three young boys with autism after they received a slow injection of secretin as part of a diagnostic procedure for digestive problems.

The striking improvements in behavior and language skills, widely publicized in the media, prompted a rush by parents eager to try anything that might benefit their autistic children. In some cases, they were willing to pay hundreds of dollars to obtain a single infusion of the hormone.

"We looked at the initial claim that even one dose could have some effect," said Geraldine Dawson, a University of Washington psychologist and director of the school's Autism Center. She said the joint study with researchers at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center found no evidence that use of the hormone reduced the symptoms of autism any more effectively than injection of a placebo.

The study was published in the November issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry. The research, which involved 85 children between the ages of 3 and 12, is consistent with several studies that have shown little or no evidence of benefit by secretin.

"It hasn't been the world-beater that it was described to be," said Dr. Karin Nelson of the neuroepidemiology branch at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, one of several federal agencies that have sponsored research on secretin.

But proponents note that additional studies still under way could yet demonstrate secretin's value for subgroups of autistic children, such as those younger than 6. The ongoing studies also feature multiple infusions of the hormone over months rather than the single intravenous dose used in the Washington-Colorado study and others.

Autism is a developmental disorder that interferes with a child's ability to communicate and relate socially to others, and includes attention problems and hyperactivity. Scientists do not know the cause of the disorder.

"There are a number of people in the autism community who still believe secretin is an appropriate treatment for their children," said Lee Grossman, the parent of an autistic boy and president of the Autism Society of America, an advocacy group with offices in Bethesda, Md. "Some people are still reporting improvements in their child."

Dawson said it is important in controlled clinical trials for researchers not to rely solely on parental reports as the basis for assessing the effect of a treatment.

Her study, which was commissioned by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, relied on direct observations by parents, teachers and research investigators, none of whom knew whether the child was receiving natural or synthetic secretin versus a placebo. There were no significant differences between either form of secretin and a placebo on a variety of outcome measures including withdrawal, stereotyped behavior, lethargy, inappropriate speech and others.

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