[NVIC] Immune Dysfunction in Autism

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" Protecting the health and informed consent rights of children since 1982. "

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BL Fisher Note:

For more than 20 years, the National Vaccine Information Center and

parents of vaccine injured children have been calling on the Centers for

Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration, American Academy of

Pediatrics, and the vaccine manufacturers to conduct prospective, case

controlled long term studies of vaccinated versus unvaccinated children to

measure for pathological changes and genetic differences which may

contribute to immune and brain dysfunction after vaccination. It has been 15

years since the Institute of Medicine acknowledged in 1991 report on Adverse

Effects of Pertussis and Rubella Vaccines that there are " many gaps and

limitations in knowledge bearing directly or indirectly on the safety of

vaccines....such [as} the molecular basis of vaccine injury... "

Although in this University of California - study, independent

researchers did not specifically look genetic differences and pathological

changes in immune and brain dysfunction in vaccinated and unvaccinated

children, it is important information for future research into the health of

vaccinated versus unvaccinated individuals. Parents of vaccine injured

children have long suspected that there are, in fact, differences in the way

some children respond to the environmental trigger of vaccination and that

genetic variation places some children at greater risk than others for

vaccine injury that can lead to autism and others kinds of disability and

chronic illness.

http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=142921

Sunday May 07, 2006 (0136 PST)

Immune system, blood altered in autism

ISLAMABAD: Children with autism show different immune system responses from

children without the condition, and these might be measured in the blood for

a possible screening test, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.

Two studies presented to a conference on autism help support other

research

that suggests subtle differences in the immune function of children with

autism.

Autism is a brain disorder usually seen as children become toddlers.

Affecting an estimated two to five out of every 1,000 children, autism has a

spectrum of symptoms that include difficulty with social interaction and

repetitive behaviors.

No one knows what causes autism, although experts have largely rejected

purported links with childhood vaccines.

Scientists at the 4th International Meeting for Autism Research in Boston

presented studies looking at the blood of children with autism.

Judy Van de Water of the University of California, , and colleagues

separated immune cells from 30 children with autism and 26 non-autistic

children aged 2 to 5. They mixed in toxins and bacteria.

In response to bacteria, the researchers saw lower levels of immune

signaling proteins called cytokines in the group with autism. These children

also had irregular responses to a plant protein, but not to other toxins or

to a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

" Understanding the biology of autism is crucial to developing better ways

to

diagnose and treat it, " Van de Water said in a statement.

A second team at the same center took blood samples from 70 children aged

4

to 6 with autism and from 35 other children. The children with autism had 20

percent more immune system cells called B cells and 40 percent more natural

killer cells. There also seemed to be differences in other proteins in the

blood, although the researchers are still sifting through the data.

" From these results we think it is highly likely that there are

differences

we can detect in blood samples that will be predictive of the disorder,

though we are still some years away from having an actual diagnostic blood

test for autism, " said researcher Amaral, who led the study.

What good would this do, as there is no cure?

" There is a growing view among experts that not all children with autism

are

’doomed to autism’ at birth, " Amaral said in a statement. " It may be that

some children have a vulnerability, such as a genetic abnormality, and that

something they encounter after being born, perhaps in their environment,

triggers the disorder, " he added.

" Studying the biological signs of autism could lead to new ways to prevent

the disorder from ever occurring. And even if it can’t be prevented,

intervening early in life -- ideally shortly after birth -- could greatly

improve the lifetime outlook for children with autism. "

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