Research appearing in the April 2002 issue of Molecular Psychiatry (volume 7, number 4, pages 375–382) examined a subgroup of autistic children who showed apparently normal early development followed by regression during the second year of life. Previous studies have found evidence of immune dysfunction in this group of patients.
Earlier research also showed that bowel inflammation is often present in these children (The Lancet 1998; 351:637–641; American Journal of Gastroenterology 2000; 95:2285–2295).
In the Molecular Psychiatry study, researchers identified changes in intestinal cells suggesting that the immune system was reacting against the gut lining. Comparisons were made with children who had mental retardation, cerebral palsy, celiac disease, and with healthy controls. None of these comparison groups demonstrated the same cellular changes observed in the autistic patients.
