Photo author, Getty Images
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Scientists have found a way to accurately determine the likelihood of developing autism in children. In nearly one in five children with autism, this disorder occurs when the mother’s immune system attacks the child’s brain while it is in the womb.
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Autism is a developmental disorder of a biological nature. They cannot get sick and cannot be cured. With this developmental disorder, a person is born, lives and lives to old age. It cannot be cured – at least for today.
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Researchers at the University of California and Stanford have created a program that can detect antibodies in the blood of women responsible for attacking the fetus. Thanks to the test, you can predict the risk of developing autism with almost 100 percent probability.
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The study examined the plasma of 450 mothers whose children were diagnosed with autism and 342 mothers whose children were born without it.
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The results were used to develop an enzyme immunoassay. This is a diagnostic method for the determination of materials in solution using specialized antibodies embedded in the container wall.
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Scientists were looking for eight proteins that are believed to be responsible for the mother’s immune response, which affects the developing nervous system of her fetus.
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Previously, it was believed that only immunity could do this, and not antibodies and leukocytes. Now it became clear that maternal antibodies can also affect the growing fetal brain.
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In 2019, a study was published by immunologists Karen Jones and Judy Van de Water from the University of California, which showed the process of how maternal antibodies can affect key proteins in the neurons of the fetus, which as a result leads to the growth of maternal antibodies, which attack the child’s nervous system.
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In the current study, scientists used machine learning to evaluate the effect of antibody combinations associated with developmental indicators. Their analysis, with 100 percent accuracy, indicated the presence of combinations of antibodies that could cause autism.
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Although the diagnostic tool generated from this analysis cannot accurately predict the future development of autism, it does provide insight into the risks involved. For example, if a mother has certain antibodies, she is 31 times more likely to have a child with autism, Van de Water said.
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