What Dr VALERIE HU told LOOKING UP
Autism Announcements
What Dr VALERIE HU told LOOKING UP
By Adam FeinsteinADAM FEINSTEIN, Editor of Looking Up, asked Dr Valerie Hu whether her research tied in with the new study by the Universities of Cambridge and Utrecht.
Dr VALERIE HU: The study by van Honk et al. correlates testosterone with deficits in empathy, which is of course an autistic trait. Other studies by Baron-Cohen and colleagues have also reported on this theme. What was lacking was a molecular explanation for the higher levels of testosterone seen in at least some individuals with autism spectrum disorder. In other words, what causes higher testosterone in autistic individuals? Our study provides this molecular explanation by showing the reciprocal relationship between RORA - which we’ve shown to be reduced in at least some cases of ASD - and testosterone. I would suggest that the heavy bias towards males over females is more directly related to increased protection against ASD in females, rather than a higher susceptibility of males, in the face of RORA deficiency. Note that we observed RORA deficiency only in the subgroup of ASD with severe language impairment (see Hu et al. (2009) Autism Research 2:78-97).
Sent on behalf of Adam Feinstein