MMR-vaccine and regression in autism spectrum disorders: negative results presented from Japan
Tokio Uchiyama 1 , Michiko Kurosawa, Yutaka Inaba
J Autism Dev Disord. 2007 Feb;37(2):210-7. doi: 10.1007/s10803-006-0157-3.
| AAP: MMR vaccine and regression in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) were not linked in a study of 904 patients with ASD in Japan. No significant difference was found in the incidence of regression between MMR-vaccinated children and non-vaccinated children. |
Abstract
It has been suggested that the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR) is a cause of regressive autism. As MMR was used in Japan only between 1989 and 1993, this time period affords a natural experiment to examine this hypothesis. Data on 904 patients with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) were analyzed. During the period of MMR usage no significant difference was found in the incidence of regression between MMR-vaccinated children and non-vaccinated children. Among the proportion and incidence of regression across the three MMR-program-related periods (before, during and after MMR usage), no significant difference was found between those who had received MMR and those who had not. Moreover, the incidence of regression did not change significantly across the three periods.
Ginger Taylor, mom
Uchiyama misstates the measles vaccine autism theory.
“The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine has been suggested as a possible cause of a ‘‘new variant of regressive autism’’ (Wakefield et al., 1998)”
By the time Uchiyama was published, Wakefield’s initial report in his case series of 12 children, was that parents were witnessing autistic regression following the MMR (the largest measles vaccine in use in the UK at the time) had been refined, and the focus was on the measles component of the MMR vaccine, “Elevated levels of measles antibodies in children with autism, Singh 2003.”
That the MMR vaccine was causing cases of autism is based on the idea that it is the measles component of the vaccine that was to blame.
Multiple versions of the MMR were available in Japan at the time, developed and distributed by:
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (rubella component: TO-336 strain, and their own MMR formulation),
- The Kitasato Institute (measles component: AIK-C strain, and their MMR formulation),
- Biken (Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University; mumps component: Urabe Am9 strain, and their MMR formulation).
When Japan ceased use of the trivalent MMR vaccine, they simply replaced it with individual doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines.
The main shots, based on licensed strains and manufacturers at the time, were:
- Kitasato Institute (now part of Kitasato Daiichi Sankyo Vaccine Co.) — Produced the vaccine using the AIK-C strain. This was one of the most commonly referenced and used measles vaccine strains in Japan during that era (and continues in modern MR vaccines).
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company — Produced the vaccine using the Schwarz-FF8 strain (a further-attenuated Schwarz derivative).
- BIKEN (Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University) — Produced the vaccine using the CAM-70 strain.
The AIK-C strain strain was even used both in the MMR and in the single measles vaccine made by Kitasato .
So ultimately what Uchiyama does, is compare children vaccinated with one kind of measles vaccine to children vaccinated with a different measles vaccine, and tests the theory of whether generic MMR vaccines were a cause of autism.
It does not test the theory of whether or not the measles vaccine is responsible for cases of autism.