Women who have diabetes when pregnant are at an increased risk of having a child with autism, reports a study published 22 September in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Triggering immune defenses in pregnant monkeys can lead to repetitive behaviors and social problems in their babies, according to a study published 4 September in Biological Psychiatry.

People with autism and those with duplications of the 15q11-13 chromosomal region share a distinctive pattern of gene expression in the brain, according to unpublished research presented Friday at the Dup15q Alliance Scientific Meeting in Sacramento, California.

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.

Mounting evidence finds abnormally high levels of immune cells in the brains of people with autism. But how do we separate cause from effect?

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.

New findings identifying the targets of antibodies found in mothers of children with autism add to mounting evidence that the prenatal immune environment can alter fetal brain development, and perhaps lead to autism. Now what?

Two studies published 9 July bolster the hypothesis that immune molecules in a pregnant woman’s bloodstream may sometimes cause autism in her child.

Electronic health records may help researchers assemble information about autism, such as its full range of symptoms, from thousands of individuals, says Isaac Kohane.

Gut cells from children with autism who have gastrointestinal problems have gene expression patterns that suggest a unique immune disorder, according to a study published 8 March in PLoS One.