Trigger found for most common form of intellectual disability, autism
Friday, February 28, 2014 - 07:01
in Health & Medicine
The most common genetic form of mental retardation and autism occurs because of a mechanism that shuts off the gene associated with the disease, new research concludes. The findings also show that a drug that blocks this silencing mechanism can prevent fragile X syndrome -- suggesting similar therapy is possible for 20 other diseases that range from mental retardation to multisystem failure. Fragile X syndrome occurs mostly in boys, causing intellectual disability as well as telltale physical, behavioral and emotional traits.