Does Vaccines Cause Autism?

Yes and no. I am not convinced of either but if I had a child, I think I will let him or her take the risk and give the vaccines. My parents gave me all the vaccines and I am functional, at least I hope.
But I enjoyed reading an article on Harvard Health by Ann MacDonald, Editor, Harvard Mental Health Letter. You can read it too and form your own opinion. The article focuses on what British journalist Brian Deer uncovered. The arguments continue on the subject.
Harvard Health

World Autism Awareness Day

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Contact: HHS Press Office (202) 690-6343

World Autism Awareness Day

Today, on the first World Autism Awareness Day, we pause to reaffirm our commitment to protecting the health of children in our country and throughout the world. Our determination remains strong as we continue our research efforts to increase understanding of how to treat and prevent autism and autism spectrum disorders.

People with these conditions, and members of their families, rely on the knowledge that science can offer. But there is much we do not yet understand. This is why we actively pursue research into genetic and environmental factors that may be involved in autism, and why we search for new treatments and therapies that may improve the quality of life for people with autism. Although we continue to evaluate vaccine safety to ensure we are providing the safest immunizations for our children, there is no credible scientific evidence to date that links vaccines to the development of autism, Therefore, we recommend that parents continue to have their children vaccinated. Vaccines have been one of the greatest medical advances in the past century. Vaccines have prevented -- in some cases eliminated -- many childhood diseases that were once considered unavoidable.

There also are steps that parents of young children with autism can take, because treatment given early offers hope of reducing the impact of the condition. It is crucial to know the developmental milestones in how young children play, learn, speak and act. A delay in any of these areas could be a sign of a developmental problem, including autism. The good news is, however, that the earlier the condition is recognized, the more parents can do to help their children reach their full potential. We encourage all parents to “Learn the Signs. Act Early’’ by visiting http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/actearly.

We know that autism is a heart-wrenching condition that presents special challenges for many families. While we are physicians, we are also parents. We want parents of all children with autism to know that we are listening to them, not just today, but every day.

Joxel García, M.D., M.B.A. Assistant Secretary for Health U.S. Department of Health and Human Services	Julie L. Gerberding, M.D., M.P.H. Director Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. Director National Institutes of Health	Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D. Commissioner Food and Drug Administration

For more information, visit http://www.hhs.gov/autism.

tag: Autism, World Autism Awareness Day

Sticky blood protein, Integrin beta3 yielding clues to autism-related deficits.

by Susanne Tranguch and Melissa Marino

Many children with autism have elevated blood levels of serotonin — a chemical with strong links to mood and anxiety. But what relevance this “hyperserotonemia” has for autism has remained a mystery.

New research by Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators provides a physical basis for this phenomenon, which may have profound implications for the origin of some autism-associated deficits.

In an advance online publication in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Ana Carneiro, Ph.D., and colleagues report that a well-known protein found in blood platelets, integrin beta3, physically associates with and regulates the serotonin transporter (SERT), a protein that controls serotonin availability.

Autism, a prevalent childhood disorder, involves deficits in language, social communication and prominent rigid-compulsive traits. Serotonin has long been suspected to play a role in autism since elevated blood serotonin and genetic variations in the SERT have been linked to autism.

Alterations in brain serotonin have also been associated with anxiety, depression and alcoholism; antidepressants that block SERT (known as SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) block SERT's ability to sweep synapses clean of serotonin.

Working in the lab of Randy Blakely, Ph.D., Carneiro was searching for proteins that interact with SERT that might contribute to disorders where serotonin signaling is altered.

“Levels of SERT in the brain are actually quite low, so we decided to see what progress we could make with peripheral cells that have much higher quantities,” said Blakely, director of the Vanderbilt Center for Molecular Neuroscience. “This took us to platelets.”

In platelets, SERTs accumulate serotonin produced in the gut. SSRIs or genetic deletion of SERT in animals prevents serotonin uptake in the platelet.

“Prior research had fingered the integrin beta3 gene as a determinant of blood serotonin levels and, independently, as a risk factor for autism,” Blakely said.

In the current study, Carneiro identified a large set of proteins that “stick” to SERT, presuming they might control SERT activity. One of these turned out to be integrin beta3.

Once they confirmed a physical relationship between the two proteins, Blakely's team investigated whether the interaction can change SERT activity. They found that cells lacking integrin beta3 exhibit reduced serotonin uptake and that integrin beta3 activation or a human integrin beta3 mutation greatly enhances serotonin uptake.

“We found that integrin beta3 can put the serotonin transporter into high gear,” said Blakely. Notably, Edwin Cook, M.D., at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a co-author on the study, had shown that the same integrin beta3 mutation that elevates SERT activity also predicts elevated blood serotonin.

“Most investigators studying this integrin beta3 mutation have focused on how its high activity state changes platelet clotting and never looked at its impact on serotonin levels or SERT function,” explained Carneiro. “Now they have a reason to.”

“We don't think the platelet itself contributes to autism,” said Blakely, “but rather we believe that the brain's serotonin transporter may be controlled by integrin proteins in a very similar manner.”

Carneiro and Blakely believe that too much SERT activity imposed by abnormal integrin interactions could restrict availability of serotonin in the brain during development, as well as in the adult.

“What is even more striking is that this is the second time we have found elevated SERT activity associated with autism,” said Blakely. In a 2005 study, Blakely and Vanderbilt collaborator James Sutcliffe, Ph.D., identified mutations in the SERT gene that triggered elevated SERT activity.

Carneiro is now hot on the trail of integrin interactions with brain SERT as well as engineering mice that express human integrin beta3 mutations.

At a February Keystone Conference, Blakely described preliminary studies with mice that his lab has engineered to express hyperactive SERT mutations. “Together, these new animal models offer an unprecedented opportunity to peel away the complexity of autism and possibly develop new therapies,” he said.

This research also may uncover new ways of treating depression.

“Current antidepressant mechanisms still essentially work in the same way they did 25 years ago — by targeting transporter uptake of neurotransmitter directly,” Carneiro said. “Now we may have a completely new way to go about it. “

These new studies represent an early success of Vanderbilt's recently established Silvio O. Conte Center for Neuroscience Research, an NIMH-sponsored program designed to investigate the genes and proteins that control serotonin signaling during development and in the adult, Blakely noted.

The research was also supported by the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD).

The Reporter, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

tag: autism, serotonin, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, hyperserotonemia, blood platelets, integrin beta3, SERT, SSRIs, NARSAD

Autism and Vaccines, Plus A Autism Case Settled!

Another article I read today about vaccines, autism and injuries caused by vaccines, makes me think that we will be hearing a lot more about the subject. Since a settlement — reached last fall in a federal compensation court for people injured by vaccines, but disclosed only in recent days, is a long-overdue government recognition that vaccinations can cause autism.
WASHINGTON — Study after study has failed to show any link between vaccines and autism, but many parents of autistic children remain unconvinced. For the skeptics, the case of 9-year-old Hannah Poling shows that they have been right along.
The government has conceded that vaccines may have hurt Hannah, and it has agreed to pay her family for her care. Advocates say the settlement — reached last fall in a federal compensation court for people injured by vaccines, but disclosed only in recent days — is a long-overdue government recognition that vaccinations can cause autism.

Mr. Gilmore has filed his own claim that his son became autistic as a result of vaccinations.
Government officials say they have made no such concession.
“Let me be very clear that the government has made absolutely no statement indicating that vaccines are a cause of autism,” Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Thursday. “That is a complete mischaracterization of the findings of the case and a complete mischaracterization of any of the science that we have at our disposal today.”

Hannah, of Athens, Ga., was 19 months old and developing normally in 2000 when she received five shots against nine infectious diseases. Two days later, she developed a fever, cried inconsolably and refused to walk. Over the next seven months she spiraled downward, and in 2001 she was given a diagnosis of autism.

Hannah’s father, Dr. Jon Poling, was a neurology resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital at the time, and she underwent an intensive series of tests that found a disorder in her mitochondria, the energy factories of the cells.

The disease control centers, the Food and Drug Administration, the Institute of Medicine, the World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics have all largely dismissed the notion that thimerosal causes or contributes to autism.
tag: autism, vaccine, Hannah of Athens, FDA, the Institute of Medicine, WHO, AAP, thimerosal

Autism Screening Urged by Pediatricians.

CHICAGO (AP) — The country's leading pediatricians group is making its strongest push yet to have all children screened for autism twice by age 2, warning of symptoms such as babies who don't babble at 9 months and 1-year-olds who don't point to toys.

The advice is meant to help both parents and doctors spot autism sooner. There is no cure for the disorder, but experts say that early therapy can lessen its severity.

Symptoms to watch for and the call for early screening come in two new reports. They are being released by the American Academy of Pediatrics on Monday at its annual meeting in San Francisco and will appear in the November issue of the journal Pediatrics and on the group's Web site — http://www.aap.org/.

The reports list numerous warning signs, such as a 4-month-old not smiling at the sound of Mom or Dad's voice, or the loss of language or social skills at any age.

Experts say one in 150 U.S. children have the troubling developmental disorder.

Tags: autism, autism screening, American Academy of Pediatrics, AAP