A study led by neurologist Frank Sharp has found that a group of genes with known links to natural-killer cells are expressed at high levels in the blood of children with autism, compared to children without the disorder. Published in Genomics, the study offers hope that gene expression analyses can provide biological evidence of autism, currently diagnosed only through behavioral assessments, in some children. While a number of studies have shown immune system dysregulation to be an important factor in autism, this is one of the first to implicate these particular cells.