Mount Sinai Research Could Result in Early Diagnostic System for Autism Spectrum Disorder
Using evidence found in baby teeth, researchers from the Institute for Exposomic Research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai report that cycles involved in zinc and copper metabolism are dysregulated in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and can be used to predict who will later develop the disease. The researchers used the teeth to reconstruct prenatal and early-life exposures to nutrient and toxic elements in healthy and autistic children.
Results of the study were published online in Science Advances, a journal published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
This is the first study in the world to generate a 90 percent accurate fetal and early childhood biomarker of ASD using a longitudinal analysis of distinct metabolic pathways, and to replicate it in four independent study populations. The results of this research could produce a new diagnostic approach for ASD early in life, before the disorder appears, and could catalyze new treatments and prevention strategies.
About 1 in 68 children has been identified with ASD, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To determine the effects of the dysregulation of zinc and copper metabolism on developing ASD, Mount Sinai researchers used biomarkers in baby teeth collected from twins living in Sweden and replicated these findings in three other populations: a group of non-twin siblings in New York, and two populations of non-related participants from Texas and the United Kingdom.
During fetal and childhood development, a new tooth layer is formed every day. As each of these ‘growth rings’ forms, an imprint of many of the chemicals circulating in the body is captured in each layer, which provides a chronological record of exposure. The research team used lasers to sample these layers and reconstruct the past exposures along incremental markings, similar to using growth rings on a tree to determine the tree’s growth history. This technique, discovered by Manish Arora, PhD, BDS, MPH, at Mount Sinai, has informed research in the field of exposomics, the study of the effects of the totality of environmental exposures across the lifespan. It has provided a crucial piece missing from most exposomic analyses of environmental exposures: time. This technique allowed Dr. Arora and his team to reconstruct past exposures, including those experienced before birth.