A few days ago, I received an email from a mother in Florida who was responding to my blog entitled, Autism, Juvenile Diabetes, and Autoimmune Factors. She explained that like me, she has both of these diagnoses in her family. She has one child on the autism spectrum and another with juvenile diabetes. She also has a child who is considered “high risk” for contracting juvenile diabetes, but so far is free of the disease. She told me that she is aware of four other families living in her general vicinity who have children with autism and diabetes. However in every case that she is aware of, the children with autism do not have diabetes, and vice versa.
A Protective Gene?
Researchers have discovered that sometimes there are “protective” genes which are actually marker genes for other diseases. The theory is that if you have one disease, you are protected against another. For example, people who have sickle cell anemia have a “protective gene” against malaria. So individuals with sickle cell anemia typically do not contract the mosquito transmitted disease. This Florida mom says that blood analysis shows that her autistic son actually has a “protective” gene against juvenile diabetes. She wonders whether the protective gene against juvenile diabetes is one of the elusive autism genes.
As I reported in my previous blog on this topic, studies have shown that families with an autistic child have a higher rate of autoimmune illness within the family. And, people with autism have been found to have autoimmunities in their blood against certain organs in their bodies, particularly the gastrointestinal tract and components of the brain.
Is There a Link?
Could there be a real connection between juvenile diabetes and autism? Is there some sort of link relating to faulty immune systems? Are kids with autism “protected” against juvenile diabetes? What is the significance of this relationship, if any exists?
Interestingly enough, my family has been involved with research for juvenile diabetes, but when I mentioned to the researchers that I have a son with autism, nobody batted an eye. If there is a significant autoimmunity link between these two conditions, why wouldn’t researchers know about it?
Calling All Parents
I’d like to ask for your help, readers. If you are a parent reading this blog who has both juvenile diabetes AND autism spectrum disorder in your family, would you please contact me via email? Or do you know of a family with this situation? Perhaps you have one child with both juvenile diabetes and autism? If any of this applies or you know of such a family, could you email me or refer them to this blog? You need not share identifying data. However, I think this would be extremely important information to bring to researchers. And I believe that parents, when united, can make amazing, even life-transforming things happen. Let’s work together to find answers!
Kristyn Crow is the author of this blog. Visit her website by clicking here. Some links on this blog may have been generated by outside sources are not necessarily endorsed by Kristyn Crow.
Related Articles:
“My Son Has Juvenile Diabetes and Autism.” A Mother’s Interview
Autism, Diabetes, and Autoimmune Factors
Another Look at the Autism and Juvenile Diabetes Connection