Pharmacologists develop medications to treat the biochemical difference. And, of course, stem cell researchers hope one day soon to be able to replace missing or damaged cells with new and healthy cells. Nevertheless, many or perhaps most autism researchers hope to discover that autism results largely from differences or defects in housekeeping genes. A defect or difference in a housekeeping gene creates a biochemical difference, such as low levels of synaptic serotonin in clinical depression, for instance. Dr. Keller reports that the reelin protein in autism should be normal.
Some researchers believe that reelin is important to learning and memory.
If true this would obviously be highly relevant to the treatment of autism. It wasn't until recently that researchers knew the reelin gene continued to function throughout life. Because researchers suspect that many or most people with autism have reduced numbers of Purkinje cells, Fatemi's finding may raise the possibility that a reelin medication could benefit many people with autism, whether or not they have the particular reelin gene variant Keller has identified. Clarence Schutt, Ph.D., chairman of NAAR's board of trustees, Director of the Graduate Program in Molecular Biophysics at Princeton University, interprets this to mean that autism could prove to be a cholesterol disorder. A team at the University of Illinois has found reduced levels of reelin in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.