Autism's social deficits are reversed by an anti-cancer drug

News
1

“But the anti-cancer drug romidepsin, a highly potent HDAC inhibitor, turned down the effects of HDAC2, allowing genes involved in neuronal signaling to be expressed normally.”

5 Likes
2

HDAC inhibitors may also be useful in treating cognitive impairment in schizophrenia.

I believe that valproate is an HDAC inhibitor sometimes used as a mood stabilizer in schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder.

2 Likes
3

I wouldn’t want to cure my ASD. I think it’s part of who I am.

1 Like
4

Bring it on. I need this.

2 Likes
5

Would it work on social deficits in sz?

2 Likes
6

I don’t think they know yet. Possibly. They are testing some HDAC drugs in schizophrenia.

1 Like
7

I agree with you, @valiumprincess, I feel the same way about my borderline personality disorder or really, traits.

2 Likes
8

I am curious. Is it possible that chromatin and dna spatial configuration are involved in sz, the same way chromatin influences the expression of hundreds of genes in autism?

I wonder if anyone has looked into this?!

1 Like
9

If you do a search for papers on schizophrenia and chromatin, there are some.

1 Like
10

I saw that but it didnt really answer my question.

Do u think that somehow sz might be due to dna reorganization via chromatin rearrangement? My hypothesis would be that trauma reorganises chromatin and dna. Am i making sense?

2 Likes
11

Yes, but I don’t really know, other than to say in addition to heritable genetics, stressful life experiences are known to change DNA expression. That is epigenetics. Well, not just stressful experiences, anything, really. Diet, exercise, disease, medication, all these have epigenetic effects.

1 Like
12

I did see that there is going to be a study in China on sodium butyrate, an HDAC inhibitor.

Apparently you can increase your levels of sodium butyrate naturally by eating a lot of dietary fiber.

Now, that dietary amount is probably going to be a much lower dose than a medicine. But fiber is good for you, so why not have some.

2 Likes
13

I’m not driven to socially interact , but to be able to socially interact better when I want to would be good.

2 Likes