About one in ten women who have a child with autism have immune molecules in their bloodstream that react with proteins in the brain, according to a study published 20 August in Molecular Psychiatry.
Emerging evidence indicates that microglia, the brain’s immune cells, are altered in some individuals with autism, raising questions about their role in brain development, says Beth Stevens.
Children with autism tend to write overly tall and wide cursive letters, suggesting difficulties with fine motor control, says a study published 28 June in Research in Developmental Disabilities.
RORA, an autism candidate gene, encodes a protein that binds more than 2,500 other genes and alters the expression of some of those genes, according to a study published 22 May in Molecular Autism.
A century-old drug created to treat African sleeping sickness reverses several autism-like features in a mouse model of the disorder, according to a study published 13 March in PLoS ONE.
In December, SFARI brought together a group of scientists studying the connection between microglia and autism. These scientists are trying to delineate the next steps for this emerging field. Join the conversation.
A net decrease in inhibitory signals in the cerebellum may underlie the movement problems seen in the autism-related disorder Angelman syndrome, according to mouse research published 5 December in Science Translational Medicine.
Microglia, brain cells that are part of the immune system, are more activated in the brains of young men with autism than in controls, according to an imaging study published 26 November in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
A newly discovered DNA modification may play a role in development and regulate the expression of genes linked to fragile X syndrome and autism, according to a study published 5 October in Human Molecular Genetics.
Postmortem brains from individuals with autism have abnormal levels of long non-coding RNAs, which regulate the expression of genes, according to a study published 5 September in the Journal of Molecular Neuroscience.