UC Davis researchers are ready to launch the
first-ever major epidemiological case-control study of up to 2,000
California children to examine genetic and environmental factors that
may affect the development of autism, mental retardation and
developmental delay in children.

Parents of children who recently have become eligible to receive
services from California's Regional Centers will receive information
on how their child can join the Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics
and the Environment (CHARGE) study of children between 2 and 5 years
of age. Recruitment will continue over the next three years as newly
diagnosed children enter the Regional Center system, which
coordinates services to developmentally disabled children and adults
for the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS).

This study is one of three projects within the UC Davis Center for
Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention, that was
created last fall with grants from the National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency and the M.I.N.D. Institute at UC Davis. The center is the
first to specifically look at severe impairments of social behavior
in relation to both genetic and environmental factors. "Most
importantly, our researchers will be tackling how genes and
environmental factors interact," said Isacc Pessah, the center
director and professor of molecular biosciences at UC Davis School of
Veterinary Medicine.

"It's clear that genes play a role in autism and developmental delay,
but evidence suggests that the environment is also an important
factor," said Irva Hertz-Picciotto, professor of epidemiology and
preventive medicine at UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical
Center. "By studying a large number of children with different types
of development, we expect to gain a better understanding of the
multiple ways autism and other developmental delays may occur."
Hertz-Picciotto, an internationally renowned environmental
epidemiologist, is leading the study.

The study, which will be conducted in Los Angeles and north-central
California by researchers from UC Davis, UCLA and Kaiser Permanente,
will enroll up to 2,000 children with differing patterns of
development, including children with autism, children with mental
retardation or developmental delay but not autism, and children who
are developing typically.

Exposure to a broad array of external factors and measurements of
important physiologic factors will be compared among the three
groups. These factors include environmental exposures from chemicals
used in industrial processes, consumer products, illnesses of the
mother during pregnancy and of the child after birth, medications and
vaccinations, and diet.
Researchers will also conduct studies on lipids, specific genes, key
molecules involved in the working of the immune and nervous systems,
and cell-to-cell communication and metabolism.

The researchers will review regional-center records for children with
autism and children with mental retardation or developmental delay.
Families from both diagnostic groups and families of children with
typical development will complete questionnaires and give specimens,
and those with autism will participate in a diagnostic work-up.

"By looking at children's medical history, environmental exposure to
toxins, diet, genetic background, chemical and cellular markers from
tissue samples, and many other aspects of their lives, both before
and after birth, we will be able to evaluate possible causes and
contributing factors to autism," said Hertz-Picciotto.

The Center for Children's Environmental Health is studying molecular
and immunological mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders
involving studies in animals and cell systems and of specimens from
the children in the CHARGE study.

Pessah, principal investigator for the Center for Children's
Environmental Health and Disease Prevention, said the samples will be
used to compare and contrast immune responses to vaccine antigens
among the three groups.

"Our ultimate goal is to understand common patterns of dysfunction in
autism and clarify how toxins contribute to abnormal neurodevelopment
so that we can develop rational strategies for intervention and,
hopefully, prevention," Pessah said.

More information about the Center for Children's Environmental Health
can be found here

For more
information about the CHARGE study, call toll-free (866) 550-5027, or visit their website below.