Doctors Reverse With Drugs Autism-Linked Fragile X Syndrome In Mice

An anonymous reader writes "New research by a team of Bangalore-based scientists has given hope to those with emotional problems caused by the inheritance of a fragile X chromosome. The researchers, for the first time in the world, mapped defective connections between nerve cells in the emotional hub of the brain of mice who had Fragile X Syndrome. The research has just been published in the online edition of the US-based Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences." Besides the mapping of these nerves, though, "The NCBS team has shown that even the long-term ravages of the condition could be reversed with medication in mice." Fragile X syndrome is associated with autism, though the conditions do not map directly to each other.

Comments

What?

[XnavxeMiyyep]

Doctors Reverse With Drugs Autism-Linked Fragile X Syndrome

What?

Re:What?

[XCondE]

Doctors Reverse With Drugs Autism-Linked Fragile X Syndrome

What?

Editors are sick of people not reading the summary so they're making the headline incomprehensible. Your move.

What Is Your Point?

[Saeed al-Sahaf]

In other words, at least 80% of individuals with autism need to find hope for a cure somewhere else.

20% is an insignificant number? Not if your child has Autism. And suppose you had Cancer, would you pass on looking into a treatment because it "ONLY" had a 20% rate of potential improvement?

Hoestly, what is your point?

Re:What Is Your Point?

[sjames]

Perhaps more to the point, if a cure works in the 20% of sufferers who's condition includes X and you are in that 20%, it's great news. It is unfortunate that it doesn't help the other 80%, but it';s not like that makes it a failure.

Re:What Is Your Point?

[nashv]

Actually, It is a rather good example. Autism is a set of symptoms that also have varying causes , Fragile X being one of them. Even the potential to fix one kind of cause is better than none.

Misleading headline. Fragile X != Autism

[Trixter]

The symptoms are similar but they are only tangentially related. The headline is incredibly misleading by suggesting a drug has been produced that can reverse autism, which is of course not true.

Related Slashdot post from June 27, 2007

[PatPending]

From June 27, 2007:

Autism Reversed in Mice at MIT Lab

Sweet.

[DWMorse]

My oldest son has Fragile X and is diagnosed in the Autism spectrum. It's an incredibly impairing disability, and I'll be asking his doctor to keep on eye on the clinical trials.

On a side note, as well voiced thus far, what headline is the hell up with what is there? For cryin' out loud.

Doctor Reversed Nothing

[DynaSoar]

They supposedly mapped the connections involved.

They previously determined what enzyme caused the damage and found something to inhibit it.

They *assert* that they could possibly reverse the damage using this inhibiting enzyme. COULD.

Inhibiting damage can prevent. You cannot inhibit damage already done. Inhibition and reversal are not the same. Nor are the two syndromes involved.

Times of India ranks up there with Pravda when it comes to truthful accuracy, especially when it comes to home ground science. The "for the first time" gets read as though nobody had ever done this mapping before. It could as easily mean it was the first time they did it. It has been done before.

The asserted reversal has also been done before. Not by them or by their New York friends, but at MIT.