American Scientists Come Close To Creating A Blood Test For Autism In Children

American scientists come close to creating a blood test for autism in children

The study found unique metabolic markers in more than 50% of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

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Two years ago, American scientists studying ASD were able to identify a group of metabolites in the blood that helps detect autism in almost one in five patients. In a study of 1,102 children aged 18 months to 4 years, the team found that children with diagnosed autism had a unique concentration of certain amino acids in their blood in 17% of cases. This discovery became the key to the development of a universal blood test for diagnosing ASD - recall that now this diagnosis is made only by behavioral signs.

In an article published in the journal Autism Research, scientists talked about new successes: the analysis of blood samples taken from 708 children with ASD in the same age groups identified an additional 34 unique metabolic traits in 53% of subjects with an accuracy of 91%. According to the researchers, this is another important step towards creating metabolic tests that will serve as the basis for biological screening for ASD. The scientists emphasize that analyzes of other potential biomarkers in the obtained samples are ongoing.

“Given the virtual absence of effective biomarkers for detecting autism risk in very young children, further research is needed. But we hope our method has tremendous potential for detecting ASD in children as early as possible,”said David Amaral, lead author of the study, professor at the UC Davis MIND Institute. "Moreover, identifying the specific nature of metabolic changes in a particular child may open up opportunities for the creation of new clinical tools for the treatment of ASD."