New research examines the role of the immune system in the development of Autism Spectrum Disorder

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For Immediate Release

Washington, D.C. — Children’s Health Defense (CHD) Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Brian Hooker, PhD, co-authored a new paper, “The Neuroimmunology of Autism” published this week on the multidisciplinary research platform Preprints.org. Dr. Hooker and his team examined the role of the immune system in the development of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), highlighting the need for a “multi-scale, holistic, and ‘middle-out’ approach to understanding and developing future therapeutic modalities to address the core symptoms of ASD that go beyond the current reductionist and ‘magic-bullet’ medical paradigm.”

The authors analyzed environmental causes of ASD development and progression in identifying various states of neurological and immunological development, as well as dysregulation of the immune system in which ASD develops.

The research team, including CHD Science Fellow Jeet Varia, PhD, and pediatric neurologist Martha Herbert, MD, PhD, point out that while over $1 billion has been spent on genetic autism research over the past 10 years, no unequivocal evidence of a purely genetic cause of autism has been found.

“Accumulated and current evidence implicates the role of environmental insult in the etiology and pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorder,” said Dr. Varia. “The complex pathophysiology and heterogeneous ASD phenotype are hypothesized, for some individuals with ASD, to be related to dysregulation of the immune system within the central nervous system and in the gut.”

The authors also note that viable treatment options for those diagnosed with autism are not derived from research focused solely on genetics.

“Novel therapeutics to address core symptoms of ASD have been largely ignored by mainstream medicine and are desperately needed,” said Dr. Hooker. “Potential treatments necessitate neuroimmunological perspectives and a ‘whole body’ approach, integrated with personalized and precision nutrition and mind-body modalities.”

The authors conclude that, “… only once we understand that ASD is not genetically inevitable or a genetic tragedy but an environmental and physiological catastrophe, will we truly be able to grasp and address the root causes of the dramatic rise in its prevalence…The point henceforward becomes not just to support and seek full recovery for those diagnosed with ASD, but also how we as individuals, families, communities, and society in the contemporary era can most effectively protect future generations.”

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