Autism Epigenetics News
Updates from the Escher Fund for Autism, May 2015
Visit GermlineExposures.org for:
• Grant information
• Expert Q&As
• Germline epigenetics in the news
• Germline development and reprogramming backgrounder
• Blog
Updates from the Escher Fund for Autism, May 2015
Visit GermlineExposures.org for:
• Grant information
• Expert Q&As
• Germline epigenetics in the news
• Germline development and reprogramming backgrounder
• Blog
In this issue:
• A Glut of Abnormal F2 Neurodevelopment in One Family: Did Grandma's 1960s Pregnancy Drugs Induce F1 Fetal Germline Errors?
• In Case You Missed it: Three F2s with Autism: Did 1965 Synthetic Hormones Drug Mom's DNA?
• New $25k RFP on Autism Multiplex Families
• New Q&A on the website: David Moore, PhD
• Must-Reads: Paper by Tracy Bale, PhD, research by Dani Fallin, PhD, and a new journal
• No-deadline $5k mini-grants available
______________________________________________
A Glut of Abnormal F2 Neurodevelopment in One Family — Did Grandma's 1960s Pregnancy Drugs Induce F1 Fetal Germline Errors?
by Chrissy Young
I was born and raised in Boston, am a die-hard Red Sox fan, and have a beautiful son and daughter, both of whom have attention, conduct, processing, and learning disorders. Also before having them I had a girl with Turner’s syndrome but she was not born alive. My daughter also has precocious puberty. My older sister’s son is also behaviorally disabled, he is diagnosed with ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, a panic disorder, and is on the spectrum.
How did my sister and myself have between us three children with serious neurological disabilities? I think the clue lies with our mother, that is, our disabled children’s grandmother. Our mother has Type 1 diabetes, and as a consequence had been a patient at the famed Joslin Diabetes Clinic in Boston when she was pregnant with us in the 1960s.
Because I had many strange health problems growing up, including cardiac defects, abnormal dental structure, and persistent gynecological problems, and my sister had serious health problems, too, we looked into the drugs my mom had been given when she was pregnant with us. What we discovered was utterly shocking.
In addition to insulin, we saw that the Joslin clinic has also given my mom weekly injections of synthetic steroid hormones — a drug called Deluteval 2x (the 17-OHPC progestin Delalutin, plus estradiol valerate). These drug combos were mistakenly thought to help prevent miscarriage in “at-risk” pregnancies, including moms with diabetes.
In addition, we obtained records that my mom was regularly given many other drugs during pregnancy, including:
• Sedatives, including chloral hydrate
• Methamphetamine (desoxyn)
• Cough syrup with codeine
• Tetracycline and penicillin
• Diuretics, including hydrodiuril (antihypertensive) and mercuhydrin (preeclampsia prevention, ineffective)
• Anti-nausea drugs, including Compazine
• Thyroid hormone
• Atropine (anticholinergic, unknown use)
• Aspirin
• Hykinone (synthetic vitamin K)
• Kaopectate, Maalox, vitamins
My mother’s sister, who did not have Type 1 diabetes, had unmedicated pregnancies, and her offspring and grand-offspring are all typically developing, in stark contrast to our families.
There is so much more to the epidemics of autism and ADHD and other mental disabilities than researchers have been thinking about. They are not aware of the heavy and wanton use of pregnancy drugs such as those to which I and my sister were subjected. And they do not think about what these drugs might have done to our developing gametes—instead they wave off our kids’ disabilities as “genetic” without ever pausing to think about what novel and powerful chemicals may have in fact drugged our DNA.
My sister and I were both really lucky to get records of the drugs we were exposed to in the womb. I believe there are no coincidences and I think we were blessed with those rare records for a reason. I think they can help bring to light this horrible pregnancy drug history no one ever thinks about, and its catastrophic multigenerational consequences.
Chrissy Young lives in Boston.
More autism family germline drug exposure stories coming next month.
I was born and raised in Boston, am a die-hard Red Sox fan, and have a beautiful son and daughter, both of whom have attention, conduct, processing, and learning disorders. Also before having them I had a girl with Turner’s syndrome but she was not born alive. My daughter also has precocious puberty. My older sister’s son is also behaviorally disabled, he is diagnosed with ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, a panic disorder, and is on the spectrum.
How did my sister and myself have between us three children with serious neurological disabilities? I think the clue lies with our mother, that is, our disabled children’s grandmother. Our mother has Type 1 diabetes, and as a consequence had been a patient at the famed Joslin Diabetes Clinic in Boston when she was pregnant with us in the 1960s.
Because I had many strange health problems growing up, including cardiac defects, abnormal dental structure, and persistent gynecological problems, and my sister had serious health problems, too, we looked into the drugs my mom had been given when she was pregnant with us. What we discovered was utterly shocking.
In addition to insulin, we saw that the Joslin clinic has also given my mom weekly injections of synthetic steroid hormones — a drug called Deluteval 2x (the 17-OHPC progestin Delalutin, plus estradiol valerate). These drug combos were mistakenly thought to help prevent miscarriage in “at-risk” pregnancies, including moms with diabetes.
In addition, we obtained records that my mom was regularly given many other drugs during pregnancy, including:
• Sedatives, including chloral hydrate
• Methamphetamine (desoxyn)
• Cough syrup with codeine
• Tetracycline and penicillin
• Diuretics, including hydrodiuril (antihypertensive) and mercuhydrin (preeclampsia prevention, ineffective)
• Anti-nausea drugs, including Compazine
• Thyroid hormone
• Atropine (anticholinergic, unknown use)
• Aspirin
• Hykinone (synthetic vitamin K)
• Kaopectate, Maalox, vitamins
My mother’s sister, who did not have Type 1 diabetes, had unmedicated pregnancies, and her offspring and grand-offspring are all typically developing, in stark contrast to our families.
There is so much more to the epidemics of autism and ADHD and other mental disabilities than researchers have been thinking about. They are not aware of the heavy and wanton use of pregnancy drugs such as those to which I and my sister were subjected. And they do not think about what these drugs might have done to our developing gametes—instead they wave off our kids’ disabilities as “genetic” without ever pausing to think about what novel and powerful chemicals may have in fact drugged our DNA.
My sister and I were both really lucky to get records of the drugs we were exposed to in the womb. I believe there are no coincidences and I think we were blessed with those rare records for a reason. I think they can help bring to light this horrible pregnancy drug history no one ever thinks about, and its catastrophic multigenerational consequences.
Chrissy Young lives in Boston.
More autism family germline drug exposure stories coming next month.
In case you missed it last month:
Three F2's with Autism: Did 1965 Synthetic Hormones Drug Mom's DNA?
Three F2's with Autism: Did 1965 Synthetic Hormones Drug Mom's DNA?
Read here about Joan Hutchen's three children with autism. Like Jill Escher, mother of two children with idiopathic autism, and Chrissy Young and her sister, see above, Joan had been prenatally exposed to "anti-miscarriage" synthetic hormone drugs as a fetus in the 1960s.
These lab-created evolutionarily novel substances with steroid-like properties had direct access to germline DNA, and may have had the effect of inducing epigenetic programming errors in nascent gametes, resulting in dysregulated neurodevelopment in the F2 generation, pictured above.
See our latest RFP (below) focusing on the investigation of exposure history in autism multiplex families.
These lab-created evolutionarily novel substances with steroid-like properties had direct access to germline DNA, and may have had the effect of inducing epigenetic programming errors in nascent gametes, resulting in dysregulated neurodevelopment in the F2 generation, pictured above.
See our latest RFP (below) focusing on the investigation of exposure history in autism multiplex families.
New $25k RFP due June 30, 2015: Parental Germline Exposures in the Histories of Autism Multiplex Families
Autism is highly heritable without being "genetic" in the classic sense, and its rates are skyrocketing, up 28-fold in California's DDS system since 1987. We hypothesize that a subset of ASDs arise from induced epigenomic and/or genomic disruptions of parental germline during the vulnerable phase of fetal germline synthesis. This new RFP asks investigators to look at F2 ASD multiplex families to probe this idea, with an emphasis on ascertainment of F1 in utero pharmaceutical and other acute exposures in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. RFP details can be found at: germlineexposures.org/grants.
______________________________________________
New Q&A: David Moore, PhD, on "The Developing Genome"
Our latest Expert Interview features David Moore, PhD, author of the new book, "The Developing Genome: An Introduction to Behavioral Epigenetics." In 2001, he published the groundbreaking "The Dependent Gene: The Fallacy of Nature Versus Nurture," arguing against the dominant paradigm of genetic determinism and for an understanding of development and biology that accounts for environmental and cellular context in how genes are expressed and ultimately in how traits develop. The new book continues those themes, while emphasizing the molecular basis for developmental shifts.
See all Expert Interviews
Coming soon: Patrick Allard, PhD, UCLA; Dani Fallin, PhD, Johns Hopkins
______________________________________________
Must-Reads:
Epigenetic and Transgenerational Reprogramming of Brain Development
In this new piece in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Tracy Bale, PhD, discusses links between epigenetic programming in critical windows of development and neurodevelopment in future generations: "Tight control of epigenetic regulation is crucial during the early phase of gestation, which is characterized by a wave of genome demethylation followed by de novo remethylation, establishment of imprints and sex determination, and is therefore particularly sensitive to maternal influences that could result in embryonic and germ cell reprogramming...."http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v16/n6/abs/nrn3818.html
Parent's DNA tags tied to autism symptoms in toddlers
This SFARI article discusses exciting new research by Johns Hopkins' Dani Fallin, PhD: "Women who have unusual patterns of chemical tags on their DNA during pregnancy may give birth to children who develop autism symptoms.... Chemical tags such as methyl groups can turn genes on or off and may appear in response to environmental triggers...."
http://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/conference-news/2015/international-meeting-for-autism-research-2015/parents-dna-tags-tied-to-autism-symptoms-in-toddlers
New Journal: Environmental Epigenetics
Oxford University Press has announced a new journal, Environmental Epigenetics —an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal, with Michael Skinner, PhD, at the helm (pictured above). Environmental Epigenetics publishes research in any area of science and medicine related to the field of epigenetics with particular interest on environmental relevance. Fields including medicine, biology, evolution, molecular biology, toxicology, ecology, social sciences, chemistry, systems biology, and bioinformatics are welcome. The journal publishes Research Articles, Reviews, Technical Briefs, and Perspectives.
Learn more: http://eep.oxfordjournals.org/
______________________________________________
Reminder: Mini-grants Available, No Deadline
Mini-grants in the $250-$5,000 range are available on a rolling basis to support meetings, papers, research, or other work related to investigations of the induced germline disruption hypothesis of autism. Simply email us with your inquiry.
______________________________________________
The Escher Fund for Autism supports projects that investigate the role of de novo germline perturbation in the etiology of autism and related disorders.
Visit GermlineExposures.org for:• Grant information• Expert Q&As • Germline epigenetics in the news• Germline development and reprogramming backgrounder• Blog
• Recent FDA Petition
• Germline disruption hypothesis of autism, in an infographic
• Q&A with Jill Escher
Learn more at our website, GermlineExposures.org
Email: jill.escher@gmail.com
Autism is highly heritable without being "genetic" in the classic sense, and its rates are skyrocketing, up 28-fold in California's DDS system since 1987. We hypothesize that a subset of ASDs arise from induced epigenomic and/or genomic disruptions of parental germline during the vulnerable phase of fetal germline synthesis. This new RFP asks investigators to look at F2 ASD multiplex families to probe this idea, with an emphasis on ascertainment of F1 in utero pharmaceutical and other acute exposures in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. RFP details can be found at: germlineexposures.org/grants.
______________________________________________
New Q&A: David Moore, PhD, on "The Developing Genome"
Our latest Expert Interview features David Moore, PhD, author of the new book, "The Developing Genome: An Introduction to Behavioral Epigenetics." In 2001, he published the groundbreaking "The Dependent Gene: The Fallacy of Nature Versus Nurture," arguing against the dominant paradigm of genetic determinism and for an understanding of development and biology that accounts for environmental and cellular context in how genes are expressed and ultimately in how traits develop. The new book continues those themes, while emphasizing the molecular basis for developmental shifts.
See all Expert Interviews
Coming soon: Patrick Allard, PhD, UCLA; Dani Fallin, PhD, Johns Hopkins
______________________________________________
Must-Reads:
Epigenetic and Transgenerational Reprogramming of Brain Development
In this new piece in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Tracy Bale, PhD, discusses links between epigenetic programming in critical windows of development and neurodevelopment in future generations: "Tight control of epigenetic regulation is crucial during the early phase of gestation, which is characterized by a wave of genome demethylation followed by de novo remethylation, establishment of imprints and sex determination, and is therefore particularly sensitive to maternal influences that could result in embryonic and germ cell reprogramming...."http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v16/n6/abs/nrn3818.html
Parent's DNA tags tied to autism symptoms in toddlers
This SFARI article discusses exciting new research by Johns Hopkins' Dani Fallin, PhD: "Women who have unusual patterns of chemical tags on their DNA during pregnancy may give birth to children who develop autism symptoms.... Chemical tags such as methyl groups can turn genes on or off and may appear in response to environmental triggers...."
http://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/conference-news/2015/international-meeting-for-autism-research-2015/parents-dna-tags-tied-to-autism-symptoms-in-toddlers
New Journal: Environmental Epigenetics
Oxford University Press has announced a new journal, Environmental Epigenetics —an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal, with Michael Skinner, PhD, at the helm (pictured above). Environmental Epigenetics publishes research in any area of science and medicine related to the field of epigenetics with particular interest on environmental relevance. Fields including medicine, biology, evolution, molecular biology, toxicology, ecology, social sciences, chemistry, systems biology, and bioinformatics are welcome. The journal publishes Research Articles, Reviews, Technical Briefs, and Perspectives.
Learn more: http://eep.oxfordjournals.org/
______________________________________________
Reminder: Mini-grants Available, No Deadline
Mini-grants in the $250-$5,000 range are available on a rolling basis to support meetings, papers, research, or other work related to investigations of the induced germline disruption hypothesis of autism. Simply email us with your inquiry.
______________________________________________
The Escher Fund for Autism supports projects that investigate the role of de novo germline perturbation in the etiology of autism and related disorders.
Visit GermlineExposures.org for:• Grant information• Expert Q&As • Germline epigenetics in the news• Germline development and reprogramming backgrounder• Blog
• Recent FDA Petition
• Germline disruption hypothesis of autism, in an infographic
• Q&A with Jill Escher
Learn more at our website, GermlineExposures.org
Email: jill.escher@gmail.com