THE hunt for clues to the causes of autism has taken another turn. The discovery of immune-system proteins in the guts of children with the condition adds new weight to the controversial idea which suggests that autism could be the result of the body turning on itself.
Researchers have already suggested that there could be a link between autism and the MMR vaccine (New Scientist, 17 February 2001, p 17). In the latest work, Simon Murch and colleagues from the Royal Free Hospital and University College Medical School in London studied 25 children with regressive autism, in which symptoms…
