Effects on the child’s brain

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that currently affects 1 in 54 children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is known to be characterized by impaired social, interpersonal, and communication skills, as well as biased behavior and interests. Many studies have been conducted on elucidating the autism-related genes, however the genetic variations in autism are extremely diverse, and the causative genes that cause the condition have not been defined.

Exosomes are thought to be able to travel between various organs due to their characteristics (Fig. 5). In the Hoshino laboratory, we are isolating exosomes in the blood of patients and conducting comprehensive analysis of exosomes using the methods developed in cancer research.

We aim to develop diagnostic markers for autism from the information contained in exosomes, and to elucidate the pathogenesis of autism.

We seek for potential on exosomes to be part of the onset of the disease and therefore, to target the mechanism for novel therapy.