Rosemary Waring, an honorary Reader in human
toxicology at the School of Biosciences,
University of Birmingham, was the first researcher to produce scientific evidence suggestive of abnormal
sulfur metabolism affecting people with
autism spectrum disorders.[1] Her findings suggest that people with
autism present with consistently lower levels of circulating plasma
sulfate and higher than normal levels of urinary sulfate than non-symptomatic controls (reflective of excessive 'dumping' of sulfate into the urine). Follow-up work has suggested that people with autism also present with higher than normal levels of other
sulfur-related compounds, including
sulfite.
Waring found that most people with autism conditions have a deficiency in a key detoxification pathway involved with
sulfation. The enzyme involved is
phenol sulfur-transferase (PST), which is essential to the process of breaking down and removing certain toxins from the body. Waring postulates that symptoms arise from an inadequate supply of usable sulfate ions, rather than from a deficiency of the metabolic enzyme itself.
Select publications
Waring R.H., Klovrza L.V., "Sulphur Metabolism in Autism". Journal of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine 10, 25–32 (2000)
Kirk, C.J., Botomley, L., Minican, N., Carpenter, H., Shaw,S., Kohlik,N., Winter, M., Taylor, E.W., Waring, R.H.,Michelangeli,F., Harris, R.M., "Environmental
endocrine disruptors dysregulate
estrogen metabolism and Ca2+ homeostasis in fish and mammals via receptor – independent mechanisms", Comp. Biochem. Physiol., 135, 1–8 (2003)
Parsons, R.B., Smith, S.W., Waring, R.H., Williams, A.C. and Ramsden, D.B.‘
Nicotinamide N-methyltransferase in a large scale cohort in the PD brain", Neuroscience Letters, 342 13–16 (2003)
Parsons R.B., Smith., M-L., Williams, A.C., Waring,R.H. and Ramsden, D.B. "Expression of nicotinamide N-methyl transferase in the PD brain", J.Neuropath. Exper. Neurol. 61 111–124 (2002)
Wilkinson, L.J. and Waring, R.H., "
Cysteine dioxygenase: modulation of expression in human cell lines by
cytokines with control of sulphate formation toxicology in vitro", 16 481–483 (2002)