Testosterone Regulation and Autism Ranking:

Aims and Claims

Aims

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists are used to treat a range of conditions including advanced prostate cancer; central precocious puberty, endometriosis and anaemia caused by uterine fibroids.

However some researchers believe that many of the core features of autism and challenging behaviours are caused by excessive amounts of heavy metals in the body. They also believe that excessive amounts of androgens (the male hormone) may react with those heavy metals to make those features and behaviours worse.

For example, according to Geier and Geier, 2005, “It has previously been suggested as a medical hypothesis that some ASDs may result from interactions between the methionine cycle-transsulfuration and androgen pathways following exposure to mercury. It was suggested that children experiencing such a condition would have an elevated body-burden of heavy metals and have increased androgens. Based upon this knowledge, treatment modalities were suggested to attempt to dually lower the body-burden of heavy metals and decrease androgen levels in children with ASDs, in the hopes that addressing the steroid hormone pathways, in addition to treatments that successful lower heavy metal body burdens, would work synergistically to improve clinical outcomes.”

They go on to cite various authorities for this theory, including Professor Baron-Cohen of the Autism Research Centre. However Baron-Cohen emphatically rejects their interpretation of his work.

Claims

There have been various claims for the use of leuprolide as a way of regulating testosterone in autistic individuals. For example,

• Geier and Geier (2006) claimed “The use of LUPRON in a large cohort of ASDs of various ages has been observed to be associated with a significant clinical amelioration in hyperactivity/impulsivity, aggression, self injury, severe sexual behaviors, and irritability behaviors that frequently accompany ASDs.”  
• Realmuto and Ruble (1999) claimed “After failure of behavioral and educational programs, leuprolide, an injectable antiandrogen, resulted in suppression of [sexually inappropriate] behaviors and retention of the participants’ community placement.” 

Updated

16 Jun 2022

Last Review

01 Sep 2017

Next Review

01 Jan 2024