Why boys are more subject to autism than girls | Health City Berlin

Autism affects about 1.5% of all children. It should be noted that boys are affected four times more often than girls. Until now, these differences could not be explained. It is now proven that the hormone testosterone could play a role. Scientists at the Heidelberg University Hospital have been able to show in human cells and brain areas of mice that testosterone, a male bad hormone, significantly activates some risk genes in the brain before and after birth. Until now, it was known only that the defects of these specific genes constituted an important risk factor for the development of neuronal development disorders.

Boys are at higher risk for autism

"We now have a first indication of the reason – at least for a large group of many risk genes – that boys are at a significantly higher risk of autism than girls," says Dr. med. Gudrun Rappold, Director of the Department of Human Molecular Genetics.

These risk genes are called SHANK1, 2 and 3. The Heidelberg research group has been studying SHANK genes for years, since defects in this genetic information play an important role in the development of autism and autopsy. other mental illnesses. ,

Testosterone activates SHANK genes

As the latest tests on the brain of young male mice show, these genes are increasingly translated into proteins, which is influenced by higher levels of testosterone, a bad hormone. In the brains of male mice, which naturally have more testosterone in the blood and brain, researchers have also found significantly higher levels of Shank protein than women. "We expect that the greatest amount of stem protein in the male brain will increase the" punch "of defects in SHANK genes and thus increase the risk of autism," says Rappold.

The results of the work "Different phenotypes of Shank2 mouse models reflect disorders of the neuropsychiatric spectrum of human patients carrying the SHANK2 variant" have just been published in the journal "Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience".

Autism manifests early

In autism, the development of nerve cells in the brain is disrupted. The symptoms are usually noticeable even during infancy and can vary considerably from one patient to the next. Typically, people with autism have difficulty interacting socially, communicating and dealing with perception and often have intense and special interests. However Many autistic people are very intelligent.