Autism Spectrum Disorders Health Center

1 Autism Disorder (Rett) Reversible?

Possible Rett Syndrome Treatments continued...

"If you could reactivate that gene, it would be potentially fantastic," Bird says. "But we have no idea of how to get these silent genes to start working again."

And there may be a drug that could mimic the protein made by the MECP2 gene, or by the "downstream" genes that a normal MECP2 gene turns on and off.

"So instead of trying to fix the gene, you develop a drug that counteracts the secondary effects of it," Bird says.

Whatever the eventual treatment may be, Coenraads says it's going to take "a lot of research and an enormous amount of money" to find it.

The Bird team's new finding may well stimulate just such an effort.