Recent Autism Studies in the News: Overpromising, Big Time

Emily Willingham, Ph.D daisymayfattypants.blogspot.com biologyfiles.wordpress.com Two autism studies made recent headlines: How a Gene Mutation Leads to Autism and Proximity to Freeway Increases Autism Risk. The first is a close-up on a particular gene using mice as a model and the other is an epidemiological study. The mouse study examined a gene/protein known as SHANK3, which has been implicated previously in autism. The epidemiological study looked at correlations between living near highways and autism rates. Let’s take a look at the mouse study [PDF] first. SHANK3 has emerged as a protein of interest because of its roles in nerve connectivity. Researchers also have found that losing one copy of the SHANK3 gene — normally, people have two functional copies — can be associated with behaviors linked to autism. The authors of this new mouse study, which is being published in Molecular Autism, decided to knock out one Shank3 copy in…