According to a 2022 study on “Prevalence and Early Identification of Autism Spectrum Disorders Among Children,” of the children included in the study; only 50% with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and access to evaluation were evaluated by they reached three years of age, missing a crucial window for early intervention. Banu Gumusoglu, MSc, PhD, aims to reduce this gap by researching the role of adverse conditions or disorders during pregnancy on neurodevelopment in children, and if she can identify which molecular signatures may be associated with childhood neurodevelopmental disorders.
Tracing Prenatal Molecular Signatures
Gumsusoglu’s research has spanned over ten years, beginning with her masters studying the impact of prenatal inflammation on brain development, to now, where she runs her own lab and has generated pilot data showing that placental vesicles impact fetal brain cells. Gumusoglu’s research is the first to investigate the tiny membrane-bound particles called extracellular vesicles that travel from the placenta to the developing brain. “These vesicles carry regulatory molecules (microRNAs) that can alter brain development.” Gumusoglu shares. Her research team is striving to identify the exact molecular signatures in these vesicles that are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders, including ASD. They also hope to determine whether vesicles from complicated/disordered pregnancies can directly cause brain development changes in animal models.
Her method is also unique; to investigate the extracellular vesicles, she uses a specialized biorepository of 11,000+ pregnancies that are paired with long-term clinical outcomes of the child. This biorepository was developed by support from the Institute for Clinical and Translational Sciences and is led by Director, Division of Reproductive Science Research , Dr. Donna Santillan. Gumusoglu uses extracellular vesicles from pregnancies resulting in ASD and other neurodevelopmental complications such as ADHD for her animal and human biomarker studies.
The Power of Early Intervention
Early intervention is powerful for life-long trajectories of children with neurodevelopmental disorders. For example, in one 2021 study, 20-50% of children ages 2 and 5 with an ASD diagnosis showed improvement with early intervention. Gumusoglu’s research strives to identify methods for diagnosing these disorders earlier, even in the prenatal period; “A prenatal signature... would enable earlier identification and intervention, improving long-term outcomes,” Gumusoglu stated. “This is especially important for rural and inadequately supported communities with limited access to developmental specialists. Understanding the underlying mechanisms could also lead to preventive treatments during pregnancy.”
Gumusoglu has seen through patient advocacy groups that parents have deep concerns about how pregnancy complications affect their children. Gumusoglu shared, “I'm driven to give families answers earlier and ultimately develop preventive strategies.”
Research reported in this article was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under award number K12TR004382 totaling $3,774,000 with 0% percentage financed from non-federal sources. This content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.