Can Serum Protein Biomarkers Identify Children at High Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorders?
Dr. Fred Samuels, CEO of Cell-El Ltd. presented Cell-El’s development, mission and published research at the Synchrony Symposium, in October, 2023.
Cell-El, founded by Dr. Benjamin Gesundheit in 2014, has been researching biomarkers as an objective evaluation tool for ASD. Today, evaluation tools for ASD are purely behavioral, require much time and expense, are often delayed or inconclusive and don’t assess root cause(s) of the disorder. Cell El’s focus on the development of an objective blood biomarker test(s) for diagnosis of ASD may provide researchers the ability to help guide targeted treatment by. focusing on the root cause(s).
Cell-El initially analyzed the biomarkers of 200 children, ~100 with ASD and ~ 100 who are Typically Developing (TD). Their serum protein profile was analyzed and compared for 1,000 immune-related biomarkers. Upon statistical analysis, 13 biomarkers were identified with high specificity and sensitivity. This very promising outcome could significantly improve diagnostic accuracy and reduce the chances of false positives or false negatives.
Cell-El hopes to refine this list of biomarkers by analyzing the markers of an additional ~160 ASD and ~160 TD children. This further research could enable Cell-El to bring a new diagnostic tool to the clinic which may be able to provide treatment guidance as well.
Watch the full lecture and learn more about Cell-El’s initial data on biomarkers in ASD, and where our research is headed.
Help Us Help You
Better diagnostics for ASD based on laboratory-measured objective biomarkers can possibly enable researchers and clinicians to provide more precise and personalized treatment. You too can make a difference in the lives of children with ASD and their families by joining the Cell-El study. Cell-El is recruiting mothers and their infants aged 10-18 months who have not been diagnosed with ASD but who have a sibling diagnosed with ASD.
Please contact Leah at [email protected] or fill out the form to find out about eligibility to participate in our diagnostic study and please help spread the word about the Cell-El study. Sharing our study will enable our important biomarker diagnostic tool to be integrated into autism treatment as quickly as possible.