From 1st to 19th April the national campaign to support the research ofUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma with a text message to the number 45507. The University Research Center is the only organization in southern Europe involved in the large EU-AIMS project
Milan, 31 March 2014 - The genomic mapping of the anomalies at the origin of autism has been launched in Milan. A fundamental step forward in the search for new personalized therapies, for the treatment of the disorder now suffering from one child every 88 births. Numbers in constant growth, if we consider that thirty years ago the diagnosed cases were in a ratio of 1 to 10 thousand. A boom that can be partly explained by the improvement of the diagnoses, but motivated by the experts also with other possible factors, such as the increase in the age of conception or the possible exposure in the prenatal period to environmental factors such as viral infections. Although behavioral observation still remains the fundamental tool for the diagnosis of autism, research has for some years been aiming to find laboratory biomarkers that allow the pathology to be identified earlier than the onset of behavioral abnormalities. The focus was particularly on the individual's genome. Molecular cytogenetics allows today to examine the chromosomes in an extremely thorough way, and it is with an innovative technique, known as Array-CGH (Comparative genomic hybridization) that in the laboratories of the Campus Bio-Medico in Rome and Milan we are proceeding with the analysis of the DNA samples of children with autism.
"Mapping of DNA with Array-CGH – sfold the Professor Antonio Persico, Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Psychiatry and Neurogenetics ofUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma – allows us to identify missing parts or excess parts of the genetic code of a person with a sensitivity five hundred times higher than the old chromosomal maps, in search of those 'errors' that will allow us in the future to diagnose earlier and more effective therapies”. A more detailed mapping will soon be followed by the sequencing of the entire genome at the laboratory of the 'Mafalda Luce' Center for Pervasive Developmental Disorders in Milan, also belonging to theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma and directed by Professor Persico. While theArray-CGH in fact, it allows to verify if a person's DNA suffers from missing elements or presents elements in excess, sequencing is able to take every single part of it under the magnifying glass, to verify if the instructions it contains are written correctly or the code hides errors.
In support of the still high costs that technical analyzes require Array-CGH is dedicated the fundraising campaign Don't leave them alone!, launched by the Friends of the Campus Bio-Medico of Rome. From 1 to 19 April we will all be able to contribute to autism research by donating 2 euros with a simple text message to 45507. By calling the same number from a landline, you can choose to allocate 2 or 5 euros.
The investigations in the genetic field will be joined in the next few days a new study aimed at the characterization of autistic subjects through a particular electroencephalograph combined with Eye Tracker, equipment capable of analyzing the trajectories of the gaze. Fundamental dimension of the subject's relationship with the surrounding world, for this reason the gaze also represents an important window on the autistic syndrome, which has its fundamental trait in the anomalous manifestation of the relationship with people, spaces and objects. With the new studio Accelerated Longitudinal Study the Campus Bio-Medico University further expands its role in the research activities of the Eu-Aims Consortium (www.eu-aims.eu), the largest scientific program implemented by the European Union with the aim of translating available scientific knowledge into new laboratory diagnostic protocols and new molecular therapies against autism by 2016.
