Century-Old Drug Reverses Signs of Autism In Mice 207
sciencehabit writes: A single dose of a century-old drug has eliminated autism symptoms in adult mice with an experimental form of the disorder. Originally developed to treat African sleeping sickness, the compound, called suramin, quells a heightened stress response in neurons that researchers believe may underlie some traits of autism. The finding raises the hope that some hallmarks of the disorder may not be permanent, but could be correctable even in adulthood.
Re:Godsend (Score:4, Informative)
It's a heightened stress response on a cellular level to cellular stresses.
I am hoping that the reduction in cell stress response will have a similar reduction in adrenal stress response.
If you diagnosed yourself, you definitely don't have Asperger's Syndrome.
I was diagnosed by a psychologist and expert in Autism and Asperger's Syndrome. I actually get a tax deduction due to it.
Re:As someone with autism, (Score:4, Informative)
From TFA: "Second, suramin is a poor drug choice for chronic use because of potentially toxic side effects that can occur with prolonged treatment."
And from the Wikipedia page on the drug (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suramin#Adverse_reactions):
The most frequent adverse reactions are nausea and vomiting. About 90% of patients will get an urticarial rash that disappears in a few days without needing to stop treatment. There is a greater than 50% chance of adrenal cortical damage, but only a smaller proportion will require lifelong corticosteroid replacement. It is common for patients to get a tingling or crawling sensation of the skin with suramin. Suramin will cause clouding of the urine which is harmless: patients should be warned of this to avoid them becoming alarmed.
Kidney damage and exfoliative dermatitis occur less commonly.
Suramin has been applied clinically to HIV/AIDS patients resulting in a significant number of fatal occurrences and as a result the application of this molecule was abandoned for this condition.
So while this is an important piece of work that identifies purine metabolism as a critical set of pathways related to ASD, it should be viewed primarily as a starting point for a more precisely targeted drug that will have the same effect on the pathways that matter without also messing up the ones that cause the side-effects.
Re:Godsend (Score:4, Informative)
If you don't mind me asking, how much did a diagnosis cost?
I live in Canada so the diagnosis was free. It just took time to find a specialist.
As we were doing research about it, I realized all these books were talking about me also.
Aspergers has a strong genetic link. This has been a barrier to diagnosis as many parents have been reluctant to admit they are "different" too.
Peer reviewed research on neuroatypical talent (Score:5, Informative)
Not the original poster, but here you go...
What aspects of autism predispose to talent?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu... [nih.gov]
Talent in autism: hyper-systemizing, hyper-attention to detail and sensory hypersensitivity
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu... [nih.gov]
Enhanced perception in savant syndrome: patterns, structure and creativity.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu... [nih.gov]
The savant syndrome: intellectual impairment and exceptional skill.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu... [nih.gov]
Comparing the intelligence profiles of savant and nonsavant individuals with autistic disorder
http://www.sciencedirect.com/s... [sciencedirect.com]