Wires, Baltimore Sun, others: Autism may have 100s of causes, mostly genes

Few have ever argued that autism is a simple condition with one dominant and precise cause. But the scale of its challenge to doctors and to families coping with it is becoming clearer. A new study in Science, mainly by researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in NY, reports many gene combinations may be factors, and a large fraction are due to spontaneous mutations. In many cases, autism appears associated with unusual numbers of copies of genes.

Stories:

Baltimore Sun Dennis O’Brien says it simply in his lede: this one, like cancer, “could be a tough one to conquer”; Seattle Post-Intelligencer Tom Paulson localizes it with Seattle researchers’ contributions; Reuters Maggie Fox reports that 100s of genes and gene combinations can be involved; Scientific American news Nikhil Swaminathan; NY Newsday Jamie Talan with a nice quote from one researcher who sighed as he described finding how many gene combos appear complicit “…there are so many possible places where you can get a hit..”; WebMD Miranda Hiti;

Grist for the Mill: CSHL Press Release;