The National Alliance for Autism Research was founded in 1994 to fund biomedical research into the causes, prevention, treatmfnt and cure of autism and related disorders. Reelin is critically involved in the development of many brain regions displaying alterations in autistic patients. The authors have identified a repeated GGC sequence in the gene encoding Reelin that might affect gene expression. This finding represents the first genetic factor consistently predisposing to autism in several distinct patient samples, and links autism to a plausible neurodevelopmental mechanism. The reelin gene is both a housekeeping gene and a developmental gene.
Developmental genes operate in the womb.
A developmental gene directs the development of some aspect of the body or brain, and then turns off. Because housekeeping genes operate in the present, they may be easier to treat. Defects in developmental genes often result in structural defects, or differences, in the body or brain. Patty Rodier's work on the HoxA gene, which is involved in very early development of the brain stem, implies that autistic children aie born with a structural difference or defect in the cerebellum. Structural defects or differences can be treated chemically.