The result is the result of European research which sees Italy at the forefront ofUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma. The way is now paving the way for the development of personalized therapies. Greater diagnostic capacity, environmental factors and an increase in the age of parents at the time of conception are the possible causes behind the boom in diagnosed cases: one in every 68 births.
From 19 to 25 April the national campaign to support the research ofUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, by text message or call from a landline to the solidarity number 45595. The University's Research Center is the only organization in southern Europe involved in the large EU-AIMS project
In one out of three cases of autism, it is now possible to identify the cause of the disorder, thus paving the way for the development of personalized therapies. An important step forward, which is being accomplished thanks to the European research project of EU-AIMS consortium, in which Italy is among the leaders with the Research Unit of theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma directed by Antonio Persico, professor of Child Neuropsychiatry e director of the Laboratory of Molecular Psychiatry and Neurogenetics. "Using an innovative technique, known as Array-CGH, Namely Comparative genomic hybridization, we have studied 200 families, identifying the certain or highly probable cause of the disorder in 30 percent of cases. This will allow, perhaps faster than expected, to develop personalized treatments”, announces the Professor.
"Thanks to Array-CGH Persico explains on World Autism Awareness Day – we can identify DNA deletions and duplications in the laboratory, often at the root of the disorders, with an accuracy five hundred times higher than that of the traditional chromosome map".
To this genome mapping particularly detailed will follow soon thesequencing activity 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. DNA sequencing is a process that, in turn, allows us to verify the presence of any 'errors' in the information that makes up the subject's genetic code. Comparing DNA to the instruction booklet on the life of the organism, with the technique Array-CGH it checks if there are missing pages or pages printed twice, while sequencing allows you to check if the texts contained in the pages have typos.
With the funds raised with the 2013 Campaign it was possible to acquire a 'Eye Tracking' device to follow the gaze of the little patients and it's next, thanks to last year's solidarity collection, the purchase of reagent kits required for use of the first generation DNA sequencer and scanner for Array-CGH, already supplied to the 'Mafalda Luce' Centre. The aim of the 2015 Campaign will instead be the purchase of a second generation DNA sequencer, the only one capable of defining the cause of autism in that 70 percent of patients in whom currently available techniques are unable to identify a certain cause of disease.
'DON'T LEAVE THEM ALONE' – An appeal for solidarity to support research
Genetic research requires high investments for the purchase of technology and equipment. With the Campaign Don't leave them alone! the Friends of Campus Bio-Medico Onlus Association launches an appeal for solidarity. From the 19 25 April we will all be able to contribute to the financing of the projects conducted by the team of Prof. Antonio Persico in the laboratories of Rome and Milan. With a simple text message to 45595 it will be possible to donate 2 euros. By calling the same number from a landline, you can choose to allocate 2 or 5 euros. Otherwise it is possible to support the research with a donation by credit card, or bank/postal transfer in the 'SUPPORT US' section of www.unicampus.it.
"In 1985 alone there were three to four autistic children for every 10 births. Today, according to the latest study published days ago by the American CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), the figure has skyrocketed to one case in every 68”, underlines Persico. A boom probably due to multiple factors. If, on the one hand, the refinement of diagnostic techniques allows us to recognize today as autism what in the past was classified as a generic mental retardation, on the other hand, there would be the basis of this growth in the fact that it is conceived more and more later in the years and the possible exposure, in the prenatal period, to environmental factors such as viral infections.
Le Guidelines 2011-2015 of the National Institute of Health indicate the pharmacological and rehabilitative therapies available today and based on evidence. The document shows how, waiting for the drugs of the future, the therapies with proven efficacy are still few. It is mostly about behavioral and psychoeducational therapiessome of which involve the parents and not just the child. In the meantime, research has been aiming for some years at finding laboratory biomarkers that allow for earlier identification of the pathology with respect to the onset of behavioral abnormalities. Attention has turned particularly to the genome of the individual and to the possible action of environmental factorsespecially in the prenatal period.
"The predominant factor at the origin of autism – explains Professor Persico – it is certainly the genetic one, but environmental factors have also been identified which can themselves cause the disease, if exposure to them occurs prenatally, such as some viral infections in the first or second trimester of pregnancy on the mother's side. Other studies are also proving a relationship between autism and exposure to some pesticides, again in the prenatal phase. All the other hypotheses are devoid of sufficient evidence, when they are not even real urban legends".
