- Double Mastectomy May Offer No Survival Benefit to Women With Breast Cancer
- Toxic Lead Found in Cinnamon Product, FDA Says
- Certain Abbott Blood Sugar Monitors May Give Incorrect Readings
- Athletes Can Expect High Ozone, Pollen Counts for Paris Olympics
- Fake Oxycontin Pills Widespread and Potentially Deadly: Report
- Shingles Vaccine Could Lower Dementia Risk
- Your Odds for Accidental Gun Death Rise Greatly in Certain States
- Kids From Poorer Families Less Likely to Survive Cancer
- Tough Workouts Won’t Trigger Cardiac Arrest in Folks With Long QT Syndrome
- At-Home Colon Cancer Test Can Save Lives
Brain Inflammation a Hallmark of Autism, Study Shows
![](https://ladylively.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/neurological3-300x336.jpg)
Brain inflammation, triggered by an overactive immune system, is common among people with autism, a new study finds.
However, this inflammation does not cause the developmental disorder. Rather, it’s a response to the different factors that can trigger autism, the researchers stressed.
Their findings are based on autopsies performed on 72 brains of people with and without autism. In the brains of those who had autism when they were alive, a certain type of cell had its genes for inflammation permanently turned on.
“There are many different ways of getting autism, but we found that they all have the same downstream effect,” study author Dan Arking, an associate professor at the Institute for Genetic Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, said in a university news release.
“What we don’t know is whether this immune response is making things better in the short term and worse in the long term,” he added.
The next step is to find out whether treating this inflammation would reduce symptoms of autism, Arking said.
The study was published online Dec. 10 in the journal Nature Communications.
“This type of inflammation is not well understood, but it highlights the lack of current understanding about how innate immunity controls neural circuits,” study co-author Andrew West, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said in the news release.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about autism.
Source: HealthDay
Copyright © 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.