London: Scientists have identified the common genetic variations behind autism, a major breakthrough which they claim, could soon revolutionise understanding and the treatment of the condition.
In the most extensive study of its kind yet conducted, an international team has found that the DNA changes, which affect genes involved in early brain development, are together involved in up to 15 per cent of autism cases.
While it has long been established that autism has a strong inherited component, previous researches have failed to reveal any common DNA variants that were involved. But, the study has found a link between autism and six such variants.
These do not invariably cause the condition, but they are about 20 per cent more common in children with autism than they are in those who are unaffected, 'The Times' reported.
According to scientists, the results are especially significant because the variants lie between two genes, called CDH9 and CDH10, which are known to play an important role in forming nerve connections in the brain.
"Because other autism researchers have made intriguing suggestions that autism arises from abnormal connections among brain cells during early development, it is very compelling to find evidence that mutations in genes involved in brain inter-connections increase a child's risk of autism," lead scientist Hakon Hakonarson of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia said.