09/25/2015 // JusticeNewsFlash // (press release)
California – A biomarker has been found by researchers that could provide support in diagnosing autism. Science Daily reported that University of California, Irvine researchers identified a key signaling defect that could possibly be used as a reliable biomarker for diagnosing some forms of the condition.
In conducting the research, skin biopsies of patients with three varied types of the disorder were examined by the team at the UCI Center for Autism Research & Translation.
Dr. J. Jay Gargus, who is the director of the Center for Autism Research & Translation and professor of pediatrics and physiology & biophysics, stated of the findings “We believe this finding will be another arrow in the quiver for early and accurate diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders.
“Equally exciting, it also presents a target of a molecular class already well-established to be useful for drug discovery.”
The research appears in the online Nature publication Translational Psychiatry.
A reported two percent of children in the United States are affected by ASD (autism spectrum disorder).
