Autism, immunity, a game-changing discovery

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If this study is well replicated, it seems probable to me that the researcher who has discovered the structure of the immune system within the brain will receive a Nobel Prize, and it will be very well deserved in my opinion:

http://neurosciencenews.com/lymphatic-s ... logy-2080/

The implications are enormous. As the article notes, it had long been considered by scientists of various disciplines ("everyone knows") that the brain had been completely mapped, that knowledge was old hat, why bother looking at it any further? This "we know everything" attitude is stifling to innovative new discoveries like this. It seems allied to an idea that "if it existed, we would know it already".. scientific arrogance. Than along comes a potential ground-breaker, like this study.

The link between immune issues and ASDs has bemused me for a long time; there are a lot of studies which ponder effects and causal relationships, yet no-one made this elementary discovery which science overlooked for decades.

It patently absurd to think that "we know everything about the brain."

What we "know," really, is limited to the superficial "grey matter." of the brain. What lies underneath ("white matter") is seemingly virtually unexplored as of 2015.

Here is the abstract from the study, published by the journal Nature.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/va ... 14432.html

It's beguiling how such an important and groundbreaking discovery can be made to sound so matter of fact though that's par for the course. Privately, I would think that those involved must have felt tremendously excited. The magnitude of this is so big in its implications for medicine generally, not just neurobiological syndromes.

Cool.

It's reassuring that at least one other person is impressed.. I am somewhat surprised, given the supposed interest in science that many HFAs are considered to have, (I certainly do), that this stunning and momumental discovery attracted no comment at all from the 'scientific' members of WP. Maybe they all took a day off!

I am impressed.

Me too it's huge.

I had to smile today. On a scientific forum today that I look at, the news was announced there, on top of a past post (a year ago) from "an eminent brain surgeon" who very pompously dismissed a question another poster had asked "could the lymph system operate within the brain?" Some thought this was possible; they were laughed at by others who brought out the hoary old myth that the blood/brain barrier was impermeable (yes, even on scientific forum, you get people who believe in myths, because "that's what I was taught so it must be true no matter what").

Other scientists have investigated this quite seriously in the past, but were unable to detect the lymph system, because the methodology they used was wrong, so their result was wrong. There's quite a lot of object lessons here (and no doubt some very red faces in some places), but the finding itself is monumentally important and may have a stunning impact on the understanding of ASDs. It is the first breakthrough of this kind of magnitude. It's HUGE!

I also read about this and am really exited. Agree this discovery will have huge implications.

There remains a lot to be discovered regarding the functionality of the immune system.

This piece of news http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 164024.htm is also intriguing. If the findings are confirmed with further experiments, it would point to strong parallels between AS and allergies. The former relating to hypersensitivity to sensory input, and the latter to hypersensitivity to allergens.

The boundary between sensory input and allergens is not so clear cut.

For example, whilst hypersensitivity of the airways is a prerequisite for asthma, in affected individuals, already the thought about a potential asthma attack can lead to symptoms, in other words conscious thoughts and associated feelings can trigger asthma. The triggers for migraines are even less well understood.

My body seems to be hypersensitive not only to allergens, but also to specific kinds of stress. The reactions can range from asthma, to migraines, skin irritations, sudden proliferation of warts after prolonged periods of stress – which seem to disappear when I succeed in changing my environment to reduce the level of stress. Similarly, my sensitivity to noise, and social interactions varies depending on my context.

Most medical professionals don't bother to think about potential connections between the various symptoms. To date I have only met one medical professional who immediately identified the common thread across the range of symptoms I had at the time. I should have asked him for relevant medical literature.

Probably some of the more astute medical practitioners have a few hunches or anecdotal evidence on potential connections between different kinds of autoimmune diseases. With these latest discoveries, I hope that the science catches up over the next decade.

A lot of work has been done on unifying theories. The body of research in this area which interests me vis a vis ASDs is mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress; oxidative stress is caused by free radicals, which increase inflammation in the body. Allergies are somehow part of this complex scenario, and they are the result of an immune system that is too reactive to external factors. However of even greater concern to me is that auto immune disorders are far more prevalent in ASD populations too; and the long term result of all these inflammatory processes are raised incidences of cardiovascular issues. The research announced this week will go a long way to helping tie a lot of this together in new ways. The text books will have to be rewritten. And it may lead to better health outcomes for people on the spectrum, in the long run. Which will make me very

OMG

I did take a neuroanatomy course back in the day and was taught that the lymphatic system does not extend into the brain. I wasn't taught that we had the brain fully mapped, but by 'not fully mapped' my professor meant neuronal connections, not gross anatomy. btbynnr must have taken a neuroanatomy course a lot more recently than me but I'll bet was taught the same- that we don't have neuronal connections down but do know all the gross anatomy.

Yes. This changes everything.

Holy f**k that's amazing I wonder how many more links this has. As soon as they figure out what effect autism (and MS and Alzheimers and whatever else is actually also linked it too) has on this area and how to reverse it they have a potential cure. Even if they don't the understanding of the human body is further understood and that's great

This is also a very interesting discovery:

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015 ... infections

I think it may also shed light on a lot of stuff that is already known but poorly understood. Bacterial meningitis is a terrible infection, it kills young people very quickly, and the bacteria are able to get access to the brain via the blood stream - the blood brain barrier doesn't keep them out - and this illness strikes perfectly healthy young adults and can kill them within hours. But there has been a lot of misleading dogma holding up progress in these kinds of areas in the past; now things may move on rapidly and I hope that they do. Must add though that another reason that bacterial (or viral) meningitis is such a killer is that doctors misdiagnose it as a cold or flu or minor infection, which it is not, not at all...

Wow, that single drop of blood test is cheap for what it does

And yeah, hope it does further help understand anything brain related

Another game changer. Clinical microbiology is about to change and for the better.

Wonderful news! Thanks, B19!

As an asthmatic from a line of asthmatics with a variety of chronic inflammatory problems, I find this fascinating and also confirmatory of the intuition that there had to be some linking mechanism and disbelief in the "it all ends at the brain" concept.

Digital technology is contributing to research in a way that I expect will lead to exponentially increasing knowledge and vastly more effective therapeutic technique.

What an exciting time to be alive!