Nat Neurosci: the relationship between genes, leukocytes and autism

September 24, 2019 / biourn / -- researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of medicine have found biomarkers related to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which may help early diagnosis and prediction of symptom severity A team of scientists analyzed the blood gene expression data of 302 boys aged 1 to 4, including both ASD patients and healthy controls They found a key gene network that was destroyed in ASD In addition, the authors point out that the disturbed gene network is also related to fetal brain development (photo source: www Pixabay Com) the discovery was recently published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, indicating that genetic factors affecting brain development during pregnancy are the main cause of ASD Dr Nathan E Lewis, CO senior author and associate professor of Pediatrics and Bioengineering, said: "the genetic characteristics of autism are highly diverse." hundreds of genes are associated with it, but the underlying mechanism is still unclear Our findings determine how ASD genetics disorders affect the core network of fetal and early life brain development, which in turn affects the severity of subsequent ASD symptoms " These findings may provide a basis for early diagnosis and prediction of ASD symptom severity, the authors write It is well known that early intervention can improve the quality of life of ASD patients by improving symptoms such as cognitive and learning disabilities Current diagnostic methods rely heavily on clinical recognition of typical behavioral symptoms, such as abnormal facial expressions, limited communication skills, and inappropriate social interactions - all of which are unstable at an early age and therefore difficult to diagnose and predict results At present, there is no reliable, practical and objective prognosis index Dr Eric courchesne, CO senior author, said: "there is an urgent need for reliable tests that can identify the disease and its expected severity at an early age in order to start treatment as early as possible so that each child has better results." Sources of information: perforated genes regulating white blood cells linked to authentication genetics and severity original sources: a perforated gene network containing PI3K – Akt, RAS – ERK and Wnt – β - Catenin pathways in leukocytes is linked to ASD genetics and symbol severity, Nature Neuroscience (2019) Doi: 10.1038/s41593-019-0489-x, https://nature.com/articles/s41593-019-0489-x