• Shahid Bashir, Dost Muhammad Halepoto, and Laila Al-Ayadhi.
• Division of Cognitive Neurology, Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass., USA.
• Med Princ Pract. 2014 Jan 1; 23 (1): 141714-7.

ObjectiveTo investigate the role of desert hedgehog (Dhh) in a neurodevelopmental disorder known as autism.Subjects And MethodsThis study was conducted at the Autism Research and Treatment Center, King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from October 2011 to May 2012. The serum levels of the Dhh protein in 57 patients recently diagnosed with autism and 37 age-matched healthy children were measured using ELISA. The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) was used for the assessment of autistic severity.ResultsThe mean serum level of Dhh in patients with autism (1.38 ± 0.50 ng/ml) was significantly lower (p = 0.0003) than that of normal controls (1.73 ± 0.37 ng/ml). There was no significant relationship between the serum level of Dhh and the CARS score (p = 0.28), age (p = 0.51) or gender (p = 0.76).ConclusionsThe Dhh serum level of patients with autism was lower than that of controls, probably indicating that the serum level of Dhh might be implicated in the physiology of autism. However, this finding should be treated with caution until further investigations are performed with larger populations.© 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

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