Researchers decode childhood language disorder gene

London, November 6: In a remarkable medical breakthrough, British researchers claim to have identified the first gene to be responsible for causing the most common childhood language disorder

"This is the first time anyone has pinpointed a specific gene that is involved in common forms of language impairments," elated Simon Fisher, study’s lead author and researcher at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at the University of Oxford said.

The gene, CNTNAP2, and its variants are already associated with specific language impairment (SLI) and other neurological conditions such as autism, epilepsy, schizophrenia and Tourette's syndrome.

Navigating through a different set of genesdefine called FOXP2, known to play a key role in a severe but rare form of speech and language disorder among children, the researchers arrived at the one called CNTNAP2.

For the study, children from 184 families were enrolled. All showed signs of common language impairments. DNA testing of children revealed that children who carried a certain variant of the gene reportedly had higher language abnormalities compared to those who did not carry the gene variant.

"We tested that gene and showed a significant association," Fisher noted. "What we have found is these variants seem to reduce language ability."

Childhood language disorder is a disintegrative psychosis typically diagnosed around the age of 3. The condition is characterized by developmental delays in language, social function, and motor skills.

The findings of the study feature in the November 6 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.