A new blood test could detect autism in children
An international team of scientists finds a connection between autism and the presence of damaged proteins in the blood plasma.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are defined as developmental disorders that mainly affect social interaction and can vary greatly among people who present them , since they include a wide spectrum of problems. These include, for example, speech disorders, repetitive and / or compulsive behavior, a high dependence on routines, hyperactivity, anxiety and difficulty adapting to the changes that occur in their environment. Also, as a general rule, their skills when interacting with others are very different from the usual, which can hinder their integration and cause social isolation.
And since there is a wide range of symptoms of ASD, the diagnosis can be very complex, especially in its early stages of development, and require a lot of time. Taking into account that these disorders, in Europe, have a prevalence of around one case per hundred births , it is especially urgent to develop tests for an increasingly early detection and thus be able to help people with ASD and their families.
This is working an international team of researchers who have just developed a new test that aims to detect autism in children. This academic team, made up of researchers from the British universities of Warwick and Birmingham and the Italian University of Bologna, among others, believes that their new blood and urine tests that look for protein damage could lead to an earlier detection of the disorders. of the autistic spectrum and, consequently, children with autism could receive adequate treatment much earlier in their lives.
Objective: early diagnosis
The article has been published in the journal Molecular Autism , and the team of researchers has been led by Dr. Naila Rabbani, of the University of Warwick. " Our discovery could lead to earlier diagnosis and intervention. We also hope that the tests reveal new factors that cause ASD. With more tests, we can reveal specific profiles in plasma and urine or 'fingerprints' of compounds with harmful modifications, and all this can help us improve the diagnosis of ASD and point the way to causes of ASD that are still unknown "Explains Rabbani.
The study involved a total of 38 children -29 boys and nine girls, between five and twelve years of age- who had been diagnosed with ASD and a control group of 31 children -23 boys and eight girls, of similar ages. those of the previous one- that did not suffer any of these disorders. And why this disparity in the number of boys and girls in the experiment? Because the investigations that have been carried out so far in general indicate that ASDs occur almost four times more in the case of men than in women.
The scientists took samples of blood and urine from the children of both groups to analyze them, and discovered that chemical differences existed between both groups. They found a connection between autism and the presence of damaged proteins in blood plasma by oxidation and glaciation, processes in which reactive oxygen species (ROS) and sugar molecules spontaneously modify proteins.
Once these chemical differences were identified, they entered all the data in a computer with the aim of developing algorithms that allowed to distinguish between children with autism and those of the control group. The result of the study was a diagnostic test that is better than any currently available method , according to these scientists, who believe it is the first test of its kind.
In any case, the test is still in the research phase, and the next steps of this group of scientists will be to repeat the study with other groups of children to confirm the good diagnostic performance of the test and assess whether it can identify autism at very early stages , which would allow an earlier diagnosis of ASD and to know if the treatments are working.
And since there is a wide range of symptoms of ASD, the diagnosis can be very complex, especially in its early stages of development, and require a lot of time. Taking into account that these disorders, in Europe, have a prevalence of around one case per hundred births , it is especially urgent to develop tests for an increasingly early detection and thus be able to help people with ASD and their families.
This is working an international team of researchers who have just developed a new test that aims to detect autism in children. This academic team, made up of researchers from the British universities of Warwick and Birmingham and the Italian University of Bologna, among others, believes that their new blood and urine tests that look for protein damage could lead to an earlier detection of the disorders. of the autistic spectrum and, consequently, children with autism could receive adequate treatment much earlier in their lives.
Objective: early diagnosis
The article has been published in the journal Molecular Autism , and the team of researchers has been led by Dr. Naila Rabbani, of the University of Warwick. " Our discovery could lead to earlier diagnosis and intervention. We also hope that the tests reveal new factors that cause ASD. With more tests, we can reveal specific profiles in plasma and urine or 'fingerprints' of compounds with harmful modifications, and all this can help us improve the diagnosis of ASD and point the way to causes of ASD that are still unknown "Explains Rabbani.
The study involved a total of 38 children -29 boys and nine girls, between five and twelve years of age- who had been diagnosed with ASD and a control group of 31 children -23 boys and eight girls, of similar ages. those of the previous one- that did not suffer any of these disorders. And why this disparity in the number of boys and girls in the experiment? Because the investigations that have been carried out so far in general indicate that ASDs occur almost four times more in the case of men than in women.
The scientists took samples of blood and urine from the children of both groups to analyze them, and discovered that chemical differences existed between both groups. They found a connection between autism and the presence of damaged proteins in blood plasma by oxidation and glaciation, processes in which reactive oxygen species (ROS) and sugar molecules spontaneously modify proteins.
Once these chemical differences were identified, they entered all the data in a computer with the aim of developing algorithms that allowed to distinguish between children with autism and those of the control group. The result of the study was a diagnostic test that is better than any currently available method , according to these scientists, who believe it is the first test of its kind.
In any case, the test is still in the research phase, and the next steps of this group of scientists will be to repeat the study with other groups of children to confirm the good diagnostic performance of the test and assess whether it can identify autism at very early stages , which would allow an earlier diagnosis of ASD and to know if the treatments are working.
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