Early intervention is the key to the best treatment for ASD, which affects about 1 in 70 children. Unfortunately, most children are not diagnosed until about age 4, when communication and social disabilities become apparent<\/strong>. This neurodevelopmental disorder is characterized by social interaction and communication challenges, and restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior.<\/p>\n In a recent edition of Scientific Reports, UT Southwestern researchers reported on the identification of a blood biomarker that could distinguish the majority of ASD study participants versus a control group of similar age range<\/strong>. In addition, the biomarker was significantly correlated with the level of communication impairment, suggesting that the blood test may give insight into ASD severity.<\/p>\n “Numerous investigators have long sought a biomarker for ASD,” said Dr. Dwight German, study senior author and Professor of Psychiatry at UT Southwestern. “The blood biomarker reported here along with others we are testing can represent a useful test with over 80 percent accuracy in identifying ASD.”<\/p>\n Since other studies have found abnormalities in the immune systems of autistic children, researchers set out to search for antibodies in the blood related to ASD<\/strong>. In this study, researchers found that boys with ASD had significantly reduced levels of a serum IgG1 antibody. Investigating further, researchers analyzed 25 peptoid compounds that bound to IgG1 and zeroed in on one — ASD1 — that was 66 percent accurate in diagnosing ASD. When combined with thyroid stimulating hormone level measurements, the ASD1-binding biomarker was 73 percent accurate at diagnosis.<\/p>\n More testing, including analysis of blood samples from girls with ASD, is needed to further validate the findings<\/strong>, Dr. German said. Girls made up a small ratio of the study group, and the biomarker did not correlate as strongly with ASD diagnosis as with boys.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the UT Southwestern Medical Center\u00a0media release: Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a blood biomarker that may aid in earlier diagnosis of children with autism spectrum disorder,… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[331,356,6,9],"tags":[72,234],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19041"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19041"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19057,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19041\/revisions\/19057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"autism](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/autism-metaphor.jpg\")
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a blood biomarker that may aid in earlier diagnosis of children with autism spectrum disorder<\/strong>, or ASD.<\/p>\n