# More clues to autism

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-clues-to-autism/674770>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [November 25, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-clues-to-autism/674770 "2013-11-25T18:31:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-clues-to-autism/674770/1 "2013-11-25T18:31:26Z")

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As the article stresses, this result probably doesn’t explain all cases but is a significant advancement in our understanding of the disease. It seems that many of the hundreds of genes that have previously been implicated in autism conspire only at a certain time during fetal development and only to affect certain brain structures. From NIH [HealthDay](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_142759.html):

> [@](#):
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> THURSDAY, Nov. 21, 2013 (HealthDay News) – Two research teams say they have pinpointed how changes in genes linked to autism act together to disrupt normal brain development.
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> Their studies, published Nov. 21 in the journal _Cell_, represent a leap forward in understanding the complex condition, said an expert who was not involved with the research.
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> “This gives us a moment in time when genetic risk for autism actually gets put into motion,” said Robert Ring, a neuroscientist and chief science officer for the nonprofit advocacy group Autism Speaks. “This is very important.”
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> That two research groups looking at different sets of genes came to the same conclusion “gives a lot of validity to the finding,” Ring said.
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> Autism – which impairs the ability to communicate, regulate behavior and relate to others – is thought to affect about 1 in 88 children in the United States.
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> The mutations appear to come into play in mid-pregnancy. They interrupt the formation of specific cells that connect brain layers in a region that controls movement, sensory perception, conscious thought and language.
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> The changes appear to cause a sort of faulty wiring of the brain before birth, the researchers said.
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> They also said their findings might explain why early intervention programs, which enroll kids as young as 1 year old, help children with autism. Since their brains are still developing, they might be capable of correcting or compensating for some of these bad connections.
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> . . . .
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> The researchers stressed, however, that the findings probably don’t explain all cases of autism.
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> “These gene mutations definitely contribute to autism in some people,” said Neelroop Parikshak, a graduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles, who led the second study. “[But] we don’t know how much in a given individual.”

full story at link