No one in the DAN! community is able to decide in which direction the immune system may be dysregulated or which way it should be 'modulated'. It all sounds very scientific but if they can't tell up from down, hyper from hypo, or stimulate from suppress, it starts to sound like a big crap shoot. Let's just call it what it is: Immune-Tinkering. No different from fixing a CD player by randomly adjusting trim potentiometers on the laser block. You might get lucky and tweak the right one in the right direction on your first try but without the proper test equipment it's hit or miss. It's like asking a sex therapist for advice on immunology. Nobody would do that right?

One theory states that autistic individuals have too much beta-endorphins in their central nervous system. This theory goes on to posit that naltrexone blocks the action of opiate receptors, and thus, reduces the level of endorphins.

About 1/3 of treated children exhibit good responses to NTX used at appropriate low doses, although none has been cured. 1/3 exhibit variable and modest benefits under optimal dosing conditions, while 1/3 exhibit essentially no benefits. A few worsen.