科学家发现与自闭症相关的基因突变

Thomas Lehner is head of genomics at the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, which funded one of the studies. Lehner says the latest findings point researchers toward understanding the biological architecture of autism.

托马斯·莱纳是美国国立精神卫生研究所(NIMH)基因组研究部主管。该研究所资助了上述其中一项研究。莱纳说，最近的这些研究成果将有望让研究人员更好地了解自闭症的生物学基础。

"And even better, we can design experiments that will help us get to point where we say, 'We are now able to understand a large proportion of the genetic variants - what we call a genetic liability - to autism,'" said Lehner.

莱纳说：“更有甚者，我们可以设计一些试验，这将有助于我们走向新的认识，那就是，我们将能在很大程度上了解与自闭症相关的基因变异，我们称之为致病基因的易患性。”

The latest studies give researchers new drug targets for treating autism. Mark Daly of the Broad Institute says scientists have seen promising results in animal studies.

最近的这些研究使研究人员确立了关于自闭症治疗药物的新目标。布劳德研究所的马克·达利说，科学家在动物试验方面看到充满希望的研究成果。

"It's possible to reverse some of these symptoms in mice, even after the brain is developed," he said. "So it underscores that anything we think we know, we really are not sure of, as it pertains to diseases and disorders of the brain."

达利说：“甚至在脑部发育已经完成后，都有可能改变老鼠的一些症状。因此，这表明，关于脑部疾病和异常，我们所认为、所知道的任何事，其实我们并不确定。”

Scientists hope to identify many more autism genes within a few years.

科学家希望在几年内发现更多的自闭症致病基因。

The three studies on the discovery of de novo genetic mutations in autism are published jointly in the journal Nature.

科学家希望在几年内发现更多的自闭症致病基因。这三篇发现与自闭症相关的自发性基因突变的研究论文发表在《自然》杂志上。