Brain Inflammation Found in Autism - Study

Reuters ^ | 11/15/2004

[Born Conservative]

For education and discussion only.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Children with autism have inflammation in their brains, although it is not yet clear whether the inflammation actually causes the condition, researchers said on Monday. Tests on the brain tissue of 11 patients with autism who had died and spinal fluid from six living children with autism showed the activation of immune system responses, the team at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore and the University of Milan found.

"These findings reinforce the theory that immune activation in the brain is involved in autism, although it is not yet clear whether it is destructive or beneficial, or both, to the developing brain," said Dr. Carlos Pardo-Villamizar of Johns Hopkins, who led the study.

Autism is a brain disorder usually seen as children become toddlers. Affecting an estimated two to five out of every 1,000 children, autism has a spectrum of symptoms that include difficulty with social interaction and repetitive behaviors.

In a study published in the online edition of the Annals of Neurology, Pardo and colleagues said they found abnormal activity by immune system signaling chemicals called chemokines in the autistic patients.

"This ongoing inflammatory process was present in different areas of the brain and produced by cells known as microglia and astroglia," said Pardo.

"Scientists have found hints that the immune system may be involved in autism, but not all studies have confirmed this," Pardo added in a statement.

"We wanted a more definitive answer, so rather than looking at the overall immune system, we focused on immune responses inside the relatively sealed environment of the nervous system."

No one knows what causes autism, although experts have largely rejected purported links with childhood vaccines.

The condition is strongly influenced by genes. If one identical twin has autism, for instance, the other is also usually affected.

Pardo said more study would be needed to show if the inflammation itself underlies autism, or is a reaction to something else that causes the condition.

[elli1]

This is interesting.

[quack]

My aunt has an autistic child,while both of my children were born with P.K.U.(Phenylketonuria).P.K.U. is treatable with a strict,low protein diet,since their bodies cannot break down the phenylalinine in protein.One HAS to catch it early though,within the first two weeks of birth through blood screening.

I've often wondered if there was a connection between the two.Phenylketonurics,if left untreated,will become severely mentally retarted.If on a strict diet,they go through life just as (normal) as anyone.I wonder if something could be found in an autistics childs diet that could be the cause also?If I rememeber correctly,it takes a while to show signs of autism,which could be due to a build-up of some chemical in their system.

[truthkeeper]

Interesting, thanks for this post.

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

What is interesting is that a mother of an autistic child wrote a book about her son's autism years and years ago. She and her son were on the Donahue show.(I know, I know don't throw things at me please.) Anyway, she came to that conclusion that autism is caused by swelling in the brain over 10 years ago.

She took her son off of milk and all milk products and he was no longer autistic. While she doesn't believe that this is the cure for all autistic child, she strongly believes that it was the cause for some autistism. Apparently her son has a severe allergic reaction to milk that caused his brain to swell.

The name of the book is "For the love of __________". The blank is her son's name. I'm sorry I can't remember the boy's name. I loaned out my copy of the book, years ago and who ever borrowed it never returned it. If anyone really needs to know the title of the book, FRmail me and I will get you the name of the book.

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

I agree see post # 5.

[SuziQ]

If the imflammation were reduced, would the symptoms of the autism be diminished?

[TaxRelief]

The condition is strongly influenced by genes. If one identical twin has autism, for instance, the other is also usually affected.

Very stupid statement.

There are other studies that show there "womb events" may result in autism.

Also, identical twin studies have no validity over sibling studies, unless the twins are raised in completely different environments.

[mikegi]

Very stupid statement.

It's not *that* stupid. For example, if both identical twins are far more likely to have autism compared fraternal twins, then there is some justification.

[quack]

I agree.Both of my kids conditions(PKU) are genetic.They lack the "working" gene that enables your body to break down phenylalinine.My wife an I are both carriers of this gene.While our "working" gene cancels out the "non working" gene,our kids have both "non working" genes they got from us.

If we were to have identical twins,both would(could) have PKU,since they would have the same genetic makeup.Our chances of having a PKU child is 25%.We'll know in December if the next one has it.

If autism could be linked to genetics,a cure would be close behind,IMHO.

[conservative cat]

We have our son on a gluten (wheat, oatmeal, etc) free diet. You can definitely tell the difference when he has it. His dad (we are divorced) feeds it to him, because he doesn't want to deprive him of the fun of eating bread.

[Amore]

Well, one thing we're learning is that inflammation anywhere in the body (brain, arteries, heart, etc.) does a heck of a lot of harm.

[drop]

http://www.autism.com/ari/dan/science/Adams1.htm

In addition, there was a recent study by Holmes’ et. al [7] of the level of mercury in the hair of infants (aged 12-24 months) who later were diagnosed with autism compared to controls (n=94 and 45, respectively). This study found that the autism group had 1/8 of the normal amount of mercury in their baby hair compared to controls, which suggests an inability to excrete mercury. They also found that the severity of autism had a strong inverse relationship with the level of mercury, with the most severe group having the lowest levels of mercury in their hair. This is consistent with the hypothesis that the group with the most inhibition of mercury excretion would be the most severely affected.

the above statement was made at a autism confrence in oct 2003. for more information http://www.autism.com/ari/dan/contents.html

i have a son that was born with autism. these DAN (defeat autism now) doctors have worked on autism research for years. IMO the inflamation of the brain is not the only problem. autism people also have severe intenstional problems which could not make the proper enzymes for brain development. if you are intrested look up casin/gluten free diets, seclin diesese and "leaky gut"

i could go on forever about autism but i wont. i will leave on this last note. time magazine may 2002 (i beleive) has called autism an epidemic. they stated that the autism spectrum is now in 1 out of 166 children born.

[quack]

I'm sure you already have a list of suppliers,but here's a link to some gluten free products.Most suppliers we buy our childrens low-pro foods also have gluten free.

http://www.pkunetwork.org/foodlink.html

[Uncle Jaque]

A Family Member and a Neighborhood boy have Asberger's Syndrome, which is supposed to be a "milder" form of Autism I guess.

It seems that both conditions are much more prevalent in males for some reason.

Having worked in a State hospital for the Mentally Retarded, I have worked with all sorts of developmental disabilaties.
It can kind of get to you after a while.

UJ

[Marie]

My son started having problems at around three or four. He was quite hyper and started head banging. The dr said he probably had ADD and I said b*llsh*t.

Around two years ago his symptoms were getting worse. He had a headache that started when he was 8 and was continuous. By nine he started "flapping", head banging, howling and insisting on hiding in small, dark places. The drs had said that he had post-concussion syndrome at the beginning of all this as he had hit his head on the bunk-bed around the time things started getting bad.

When we moved I found him a good neurologist to try to find help for the constant migraines. The dr said that before he did *anything* he wanted to run every blood test imaginable, then do a CT scan to see if there was something obvious going on that could be causing the headaches.

He found two things that raised red flags. My son was vit B deficient and he had one type of antibody elevated way out of the normal range. The dr said that, in his experience, this elevation was associated with food allergies. He sent us to a pediatric GI. The GI ran tests and gave my son a colonoscopy. In the end, he concluded that the kid was gluten intolerant, but not a true celiac. We removed the gluten in August of 2003 and by September of 2003 he was a normal child.

Then in November he presented with the first symptoms of Type 1 diabetes. After doing some reading, I found that that particular antibody was also associated with T1 diabetes as well as gluten intolerance. We've been told that we may have to add milk to the list of foods he can't eat, but we're waiting for tests before we take away his ice cream!

All I know is this; my son was presenting classic autism symptoms. We took him off the gluten and they went away. The headaches went away. T1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder. I wouldn't be surprised if autism is also.

[madison10]

My nephews have the PKU. The boys are brothers, now in their early 20's. They caught the condition, but not soon enough. Both are learning disabled, but not severely retarded. The cannot, however, live on their own.

The doctors in the state where they lived didn't have a clue as to what was wrong.

Good point about the chemical build-up.

[Marie]

The rate of autoimmune related diabetes is going up as well. Have you ever seen a study that shows a correlation between autism and diabetes?

[quack]

20 years ago,very few states screened for PKU.Now,most screen newborns at birth.I'm sorry to hear that it wasn't caught soon enough.There's a short window after birth when it has to be detected.After just a few days,brain damage starts occuring from the build up of (phe) that's found in baby formula.

With that said,I'll bet if someone were to put them on a low protein diet it would help.I believe that even when the damage has occured and we only use a small portion of our brain,that conditions could improve.I've seen a study(Discovery Channel) where the human brain can "re-wire" itself in patients with partial brain damage.One area of the brain,not used,takes over the function of another part(damaged).

Also,while it was once believed that children could go off the diet at 10 years of age,it's considered better to remain on the diet for life.Those who have gone off the diet say they can see a remarkable improvement when they go back on the diet.

[quack]

Hi Madison, Here's a link you might be interested in.

http://static.highbeam.com/m/medicalupdate/april011998/alzheimerslikesymptomsreversibleinpkupatientspheny/

[drop]

i haven't seen anything between the 2. but autism is affecting the immune system, so anything is possible. it could be a sign of "leaky gut". "leaky gut" is when there are small holes in the intestine caused by wheat which is gluten. food particles pass thru the holes into the blood stream so the kidneys can take care of it. the kidney's dont know what to do with it so it makes a immunity to it. thus causing food allergy's. maybe "leaky gut" is causing the effect in other things also.

to the one that got a GI for their child. be very happy you did. a lot of doctors will not do that. as of right now we are fighting our doctor to get one done. we have been giving our son aloe vera juice and it has tremendously settled down his stomach to where he can tolorate some foods.

[TaxRelief]

Scientifically, "some justification" is not enough to support stating a correlation as a conclusive fact. "Some justification" means really means "This warrants further investigation".

Genetic makeup is very involved in the body's predisposition for certain reactions to the presence of specific environmental factors. For instance:

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3230/is_1_34/ai_82272875
http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/1998/02feb/jordan.htm
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2156/5/2

These articles are random examples that discuss the risk factors associated with genetic makeups for various medical conditions that are triggered by environmental situations.

[TaxRelief]

Our results are not necessarily inconsistent with the results of Holmes et al. 7, which found unusually low levels in baby hair, as the ages of their group (12-24 months) are quite different than ours (age 3-15 years). Actually, if both sets of data are valid, then they suggest a temporary loss of the ability to excrete mercury in young infants. This temporary loss could be explained by the excessive use of oral antibiotics in children with autism [9], as oral antibiotics have been shown to dramatically inhibit mercury excretion to 1/10 of normal in rats [10].

When you cited the study, you left out the most important part.

[tessalu]

I met an autistic girl on the internet, and I have written
the life story of this child, who is high functioning, with aspberger's syndrome, and it is available on the internet. This is an autistic child, whom I really have learned to love and admire very much. I found her to be a real blessing to me, and maybe you will. too. You can find the story here:
http://www.tagnet.org/rousse/brandystory.htm

She writes poetry like no other, and you may view her poetry here. http://www.tagnet.org/rousse/brandy.htm

Notice the last poem on that page, and it is called
"Keeper of the Dream". It was just finished today.
12/1/04

[TaxRelief]

She thinks she is addicted to "chat" because she has Asberger's, but tell her that plenty of people have the same obsessive feelings that she has, for all types of things. Compulsive habits are breakable for some folks only if they "go cold turkey", for others, they substitute a less harmful compulsion, and others just get busy and distract themselves with something else.

What's really different is the way she (and everyone else) obsesses over her obsessions.