Kenny Ye we estimate that majority of autism cases (about 2/3, or, conservatively 50%) are caused by new mutation (that is not in parents' genome but

happened in sperm and eggs).





Is autism really a genetic disorder created, in part, as a result of older parents? A large-scale research study conducted by a team based at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in Long Island, N.Y says, yes, perhaps.
According to the team's study, a combination of heredity and spontaneous genetic mutation is at the root of most cases of autism. Most interestingly (and, perhaps, disturbingly), those genetic mutations may be the outcome of a societal trend toward having children later in life. In addition, some mothers, say the researchers, may carry an autism gene which does not show its effects until it is passed down -- usually to a male child.
This is a complex set of findings, and hard to digest without further explanation. Kenny Ye, one of the primary researchers on the project, kindly agreed to provide a layperson's description of the team's finding:
To clarify.., we estimate that majority of autism cases (about 2/3, or, conservatively 50%) are caused by new mutation (that is not in parents' genome but happened in sperm and eggs).







-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------





Minding Your Mind

New Key to Autism
September 25, 2006
By Michael Craig Miller, M.D.Harvard Medical School





Should Older Men Stop Fathering Babies?
It's true that medical technology and general improvements in health have made life much more enjoyable for people in middle to late life. Maybe 50 is the new 30 when it comes to some aspects of aging. But a healthy and active lifestyle does not make 50-year-old sperm the new 30-year-old sperm.
The increased risk of passing on any genetic vulnerability to a child is significant when you are older. When it comes to autism, however, the numbers are sobering. A man younger than 30 has no more than a 1 in 1,000 chance of fathering a child with autism. But the risk bumps up to approximately 3 in 1,000 for a man in his 40s and 5 in 1,000 above age 50. If a father in his fifties has a son, the risk of autism may approach 1 in 100.