:format(url)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/lescoopsdelinformation/PI3UH5LV6JDGHCFYZTO6RZPRF4.jpeg "Stool sample can help diagnose autism")
At least that's what we can hope for from work carried out at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the results of which were recently published in the medical journal Nature Biology.
The study authors examined stool samples from 1,627 children ages 1 to 13, including some with autism. They painted a full picture of the samples by analyzing the bacteria they contained, as well as viruses, fungi and single-celled microorganisms called archaea.
They found that 51 types of bacteria, 18 viruses, 14 types of archaea, and seven types of fungi were different in children with autism. The AI was then able to identify children with autism with 82% accuracy.
“The stool test they did is not simple at all,” said Dr. Michael Bowen, a gastroenterologist at CHUM. “It’s very complex and there aren’t many teams in the world that are able to do it at the moment.”
At the very least, he added, the study opens up a new avenue “to try to understand the disease better.” He added that it may one day allow children to be screened more quickly to prioritize some of them.
“Autism remains a developmental disorder. The diagnosis should always be validated by an autism expert, not an expert in gut microbiota.
— Michael Bowen, Gastroenterologist at CHUM
Previous studies have already shown that people with autism have different gut microbes, he noted. Experiments in mice have yielded similar results, as well as showing that we can reduce the symptoms of autistic mice by modifying their microbiota, and that we can give healthy mice symptoms of autism by giving them the gut microbiota of an autistic mouse.
“It’s a chicken-and-egg thing,” Dr. Bowen said. “But we feel that (gut microbes) have an effect on the brain, and we know that for several diseases.”
In fact, the study authors admit that it is not currently possible to determine whether autism is responsible for these different microorganisms, or whether different microorganisms are responsible for autism.
But in light of their findings, the authors believe that microorganisms may influence the severity or expression of ASD symptoms, raising the possibility that we might one day be able to offer personalized interventions to patients to provide them with a more diverse gut microbiome.
