Scientists have made a significant finding that could lead to a new generation of tailored treatments: they have discovered a common genetic flaw associated with autism.
Although it has long been known that autism frequently runs in families, it is still unknown how specific genetic alterations cause the disorder.
Researchers at Kobe University in Japan have now discovered that a large number of the mutations linked to autism seem to interfere with the brain’s natural “maintenance” system, which is the internal mechanism that removes waste and damaged material so that brain cells may continue to operate normally.
Waste starts to accumulate inside nerve cells, impairing their capacity to send and receive signals, when this cleanup system malfunctions, as the study indicates it does in many cases of autism.