Prospect of 'autism drug' raised after early tests

[xchrom]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17839104


The prospect of a drug to treat autism has been raised after symptoms of the condition were reduced in experiments on mice that were performed by the US National Institutes of Health.

There is no cure for the condition.

The results published in Science Translational Medicine showed increased social skills and less repetitive behaviour in animals taking a drug.

However, treatments which work in mice frequently fail in humans and potential medication would be years away.

Autism spectrum disorder is thought to affect around 1% of children. It ranges from mild to severe and symptoms include social problems, delayed language and repetitive movements such as hand tapping.

[HuckleB]

1. I'm impressed by this quote:

"However, treatments which work in mice frequently fail in humans and potential medication would be years away."

If only the press would point this out more often...

[LeftishBrit]

2. I'm very sceptical, I'm afraid

Any mouse 'model' of autism is going to be very approximate indeed. Autism is a complex condition, or possibly group of conditions, involving difficulties with complex forms of cognition and social interacton, most of which mice simply don't have. Repetitive behaviour is probably more a consequence than a cause of the key symptoms of autism.

For example, one key symptom of autism is impaired 'theory of mind': difficulty in anticipating and understanding others' mental states, and in particular in realizing that others might believe or think something different from oneself. There is, so far as I am aware, no evidence that any mice have theory of mind!

For the rest, I would endorse the concerns of Uta Frith (by the way, one of the top developmental psychologists in Britain):

""However, it will be a long time until these findings can be translated for human patients. Tampering with the synapse may well result in undesirable side effects....
it would be sad if too much pressure was now put on researchers to rush into applications."

[hedgehog]

3. How can you come up with an autism drug when we

have only a vague understanding of what autism is?