PLT Test Blog

A s we know, things often do not move fast in the world of medical research, at least when it comes to autism. Back in 2014 I wrote some posts about a novel immuno-modulatory therapy, based on TSO, a harmless gut parasite, developed for autism by one parent. He then shared it with Eric Hollander at The Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Then a small biotech company called Coronado, tried to develop TSO to treat a variety of inflammatory conditions, including autism. A pilot trial in autism was funded by the Simons Foundation and Coronado. Coronado did not achieve the desired results in their ulcerative colitis TSO trials, so their share price took a dive and they later changed their name to Fortress Biotech. It looks like they have given up on TSO. The autism Dad, Stewart Johnson, who originally came up with the idea has not updated his TSO website since 2011. http://autismtso.com/about/the_story/ I do wonder if he continues to give TSO to his son. The good thing is that he fully doc...

Today’s post is about another complex and still emerging subject.   It should really be earlier in this blog. There are lots of papers highlighted for those who like the details. The papers written by the autism researchers are generally much simpler to read than those by the mainstream researchers.    First some biology:-           Source: https://www.hindawi.com/journals/mi/2013/963748/fig1/    Differentiation of naïve T helper cells into particular subsets. T helper lymphocytes leaving the thymus (naïve or Th0) are not yet fully differentiated to perform their specific functions in peripheral lymphoid tissues. They are endowed of these properties in the process of their interactions with dendritic cells (DCs) that engulf, process, and present antigens to them.   DCs produce different cytokines. If DCs produce IL-12, naïve T cells polarise into the Th1 subset If DCS produce IL-4 into the Th2 subset if DCs synthesise IL-6, naï...