Certain components of the brain’s chemical-messenger system and a site on chromosome 11 have been pinpointed as two new genetic links that may predispose children to autism, a study says.
The findings are a result of the Autism Genome Project Consortium, a public-private collaboration involving about 120 scientists and 50 organizations in 19 countries. Scientists studied 1,168 families who had at least two members with autism. The findings were published in the Feb. 18 issue of the journal Nature Genetics.
A summary of “Mapping Autism Risk Loci Using Genetic Linkage and Chromosomal Rearrangements” is available from the National Institutes of Health.
