Health Research Institute / Pfeiffer Treatment Center

The Heath Research Institute / Pfeiffer Treatment Center is committed to advancing research in biochemical disorders and the behavioral, cognitive and metabolic impacts of oxidative stress.

Throughout its remarkable 20+ year history, the Health Research Institute / Pfeiffer Treatment Center’s success has been linked to the intimate partnership between its clinical specialist and research staff.

Building on this multi decade legacy, its focus has recently turned to the in-depth study of potential biomarkers for autism, as well as exploring immune dysfunction, metallothionein levels and the presence of metallothionein autoantibodies in autistic children. The Health Research Institute has also prioritized investigating the role of autoantibodies in autistic children with GI disease, the role of oxidative stress in cognitive disorders, and the potential relationship between markers for celiac disease and aberrant behavior.

Many minds and continuous funding in these research efforts have enabled the Health Research Institute to help support not only their patients through state of the art therapeutic approaches but the researcher community at large; helping to address the challenges that the autism and behavioral disorder community face every single day.

Our research at Pfeiffer has shown that:

•             our patients have significantly high levels of oxidative stress.

Russo,A.J. Decreased Serum Cu/Zn SOD in Children with Autism Nutrition and Metabolic Insights 2009;2:27-35.- click here

Russo,A.J. Increased Serum Cu/Zn Superoxide Dismutase in Individuals with Anxiety Proteomics  2010:3:1-6.- click here

Russo,A.J. Increased Serum Cu/Zn SOD in Individuals with Clinical Depression Normalizes After Zinc and  Anti-oxidant Therapy Nutrition and Metabolic Insights 2010:3 1–6.- click here

Russo,A.J Increased Serum Cu/Zn SOD in Individuals with Bipolar Disorder Proteomics Insights 2010:3 1–6.- click here

•             oxidative stress improves in our pateints after our therapy.

Russo,A.J. Increased Serum Cu/Zn SOD in Individuals with Clinical Depression Normalizes After Zinc and  Anti-oxidant Therapy Nutrition and Metabolic Insights 2010:3 1–6.- click here

Russo,A.J. Decreased Serum Cu/Zn SOD Associated with High Copper in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Journal of Central Nervous System Disease 2010:2:1-6.- click here

•             using biological markers, our patients improve after our therapy, and their biochemistry normalizes (goes up or down until it reaches the normal range).

Russo,A.J. Decreased Serum Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF) in Individuals with Anxiety Increases After Zinc Therapy Nutrition and Metabolic Insights 2010:3 1–6.- click here

Russo,A.J. Decreased Serum Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF) in Individuals with Depression Correlates with Severity of Disease Biomarker Insights 2010:5 1–5.- click here

Russo,A.J. Russo Decreased Serum Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF)  in Individuals with Bipolar Disorder Normalizes after Zinc  and Anti-oxidant Therapy Nutrition and Metabolic Insights 2010:3 1–7.- click here

•             some autistic children have immune dysfunction and that this dysfunction improves after our therapy.

Russo AJ,  Krigsman A,  Jepson B and. Wakefield A Decreased Serum Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF) in Autistic Children with Severe Gastrointestinal Disease Biomarker Insights 2009:4:181-190.-
click here

•             some immune dysfunction in our autistic children is associated with the body’s immune system attacking itself (autoimmunity).

Russo AJ,  Krigsman A,  Jepson B and. Wakefield A Generalized Autoimmunity of ANCA and ASCA Related to Severity of Disease in Autistic Children with GI Disease Immunology and Immunogenetics Insights 2009:1:37-47.- click here

Russo AJ,  Krigsman A,  Jepson B and. Wakefield A Low serum Alpha-_ Antitrypsin Associated with Anti-pR-3 AncA in Autistic children with GI Disease Genomics Insights 2009;2:45-56.- click here

Russo AJ,  Krigsman A,  Jepson B and. Wakefield A Low serum myeloperoxidase in autistic children with gastrointestinal disease Clinical and Experimental Gastroenterology 2009;2 85–94.- click here

Russo AJ,  Krigsman A,  Jepson B and. Wakefield A, Anti-PR3 and Anti-MPO IgG ANCA in Autistic Children With Chronic GI Disease, Immunology and Immunogenetics Insights 2009:2 21–28.- click here

•             the protein metallothionein may be important in the etiology of autism.

Russo,A.J., Anti-Metallothionein IgG and Levels of Metallothionein in Autistic Children With GI Disease, Drug, Healthcare and Patient Safety, Drug, Healthcare and Patient Safety 2009;1:1–8.-
click here

Russo, A.J., Anti-Metallothionein IgG and levels  of metallothionein in autistic families, Swiss Med Wkly 2008;138:70–77.- click here

Russo, A.J. and Gilbride, R., Structural Difference of MTF-1 in Some Autistic Individuals. Journal of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science 77(1): 3-6, 2003.

Tune in as Teri Arranga from Autism One Radio interviews Dr. A.J. Russo, research director of Pfeiffer Treatment Center. AJ's research over the past 7 years has focused on studying Autism. The topics covered include autoimmunity and gastrointestinal disease and biomarkers for GI disease. - click here

A.J. Russo, Ph.D. - Research Director

As Research Director of Pfeiffer Treatment Center, Dr. Russo brings over 30 years of research experience to the Center. His bachelors’ degree in Biology is from Hobart College in Geneva, NY. His Masters in Biology and Ph.D. in Experimental Pathology are from Roswell Park Memorial Institute, a division of the State University of New York in Buffalo. After graduate school he did post docs as a staff fellow at the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Neurology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Department of Dermatology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, before becoming a professor and researcher at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Maryland. He was the Class of 1964 Endowed Professor before retiring in 2008. His research over the past seven years has focused on studying autism, and he is currently the Editor and Chief of the journal, Autism Insights.

Previous Research at Pfeiffer

Reduced Violent Behavior Following Biochemical Therapy- Article

Discerning the Mauve Factor (on page 40 of publication) - Article

The Autistic Phenotype Exhibits a Remarkably Localized Modification
of Brain Protein by Products of Free Radical-Induced Lipid Oxidation - Article

Altered Vascular Phenotype in Autism - Article

Elevated Blood Cu and Zn Ratio in Assualtive Young Males - Article