{"id":1106,"date":"2020-08-26T09:33:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-26T09:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clinlabint.3wstaging.nl\/a-blood-test-for-autism\/"},"modified":"2021-01-08T11:09:38","modified_gmt":"2021-01-08T11:09:38","slug":"a-blood-test-for-autism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/a-blood-test-for-autism\/","title":{"rendered":"A blood test for autism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span lang=\"EN-GB\">An algorithm based on levels of metabolites found in a blood sample can accurately predict whether a child is on the Autism spectrum of disorder (ASD), based upon a recent study. The algorithm, developed by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is the first physiological test for autism and opens the door to earlier diagnosis and potential future development of therapeutics.<\/span><br \/>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\">&nbsp;<\/span><br \/>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\">\u201cInstead of looking at individual metabolites, we investigated patterns of several metabolites and found significant differences between metabolites of children with ASD and those that are neurotypical. These differences allow us to categorize whether an individual is on the Autism spectrum,\u201d said Juergen Hahn, lead author, systems biologist, professor, and head of the Rensselaer Department of Biomedical Engineering. \u201cBy measuring 24 metabolites from a blood sample, this algorithm can tell whether or not an individual is on the Autism spectrum, and even to some degree where on the spectrum they land.\u201d<\/span><br \/>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\">&nbsp;<\/span><br \/>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\">Big data techniques applied to biomedical data found different patterns in metabolites relevant to two connected cellular pathways that have been hypothesized to be linked to ASD: the methionine cycle and the transulfuration pathway. The methionine cycle is linked to several cellular functions, including DNA methylation and epigenetics, and the transulfuration pathway results in the production of the antioxidant glutathione, decreasing oxidative stress.<\/span><br \/>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\">&nbsp;<\/span><br \/>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\">Autism Spectrum Disorder is estimated to affect approximately 1.5 percent of individuals and is characterized as \u201ca developmental disability caused by differences in the brain,\u201d according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The physiological basis for ASD is not known, and genetic and environmental factors are both believed to play a role. People with ASD \u201cmay communicate, interact, behave, and learn in ways that are different from most other people.\u201d According to the CDC, the total economic costs per year for children with ASD in the United States are estimated between $11.5 billion and $60.9 billion. Research shows that early intervention can improve development, but diagnosis currently depends on clinical observation of behavior, an obstacle to early diagnosis and treatment. Most children are not diagnosed with ASD until after age 4 years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"EN-GB\">Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute<\/span><br \/>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\"><link https:\/\/news.rpi.edu\/content\/2017\/03\/16\/blood-test-autism _blank external-link-new-window \"Opens external link in new window\">news.rpi.edu\/content\/2017\/03\/16\/blood-test-autism<\/link><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An algorithm based on levels of metabolites found in a blood sample can accurately predict whether a child is on the Autism spectrum of disorder (ASD), based upon a recent study. The algorithm, developed by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is the first physiological test for autism and opens the door to earlier diagnosis and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1106"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}