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- Beggiato, Anita, et al.
(författare)
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Gender differences in autism spectrum disorders: Divergence among specific core symptoms.
- 2017
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Ingår i: Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research. - : Wiley. - 1939-3806 .- 1939-3792. ; 10:4, s. 680-689
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Community-based studies have consistently shown a sex ratio heavily skewed towards males in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The factors underlying this predominance of males are largely unknown, but the way girls score on standardized categorical diagnostic tools might account for the underrecognition of ASD in girls. Despite the existence of different norms for boys and girls with ASD on several major screening tests, the algorithm of the Autism Diagnosis Interview-Revised (ADI-R) has not been reformulated. The aim of our study was to investigate which ADI-R items discriminate between males and females, and to evaluate their weighting in the final diagnosis of autism. We then conducted discriminant analysis (DA) on a sample of 594 probands including 129 females with ASD, recruited by the Paris Autism Research International Sibpair (PARIS) Study. A replication analysis was run on an independent sample of 1716 probands including 338 females with ASD, recruited through the Autism Genetics Resource Exchange (AGRE) program. Entering the raw scores for all ADI-R items as independent variables, the DA correctly classified 78.9% of males and 72.9% of females (P<0.001) in the PARIS cohort, and 72.2% of males and 68.3% of females (P<0.0001) in the AGRE cohort. Among the items extracted by the stepwise DA, four belonged to the ADI-R algorithm used for the final diagnosis of ASD. In conclusion, several items of the ADI-R that are taken into account in the diagnosis of autism significantly differentiates between males and females. The potential gender bias thus induced may participate in the underestimation of the prevalence of ASD in females. Autism Res 2016,. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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| 2. |
- Maruani, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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11q24.2-25 micro-rearrangements in autism spectrum disorders: Relation to brain structures
- 2015
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Ingår i: American Journal of Medical Genetics. Part A. - : Wiley. - 1552-4825 .- 1552-4833. ; 167:12, s. 3019-3030
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Jacobsen syndrome (JS) is characterized by intellectual disability and higher risk for autism spectrum disorders (ASD). All patients with JS are carriers of contiguous de novo deletions of 11q24.2-25, but the causative genes remain unknown. Within the critical interval, we hypothesized that haploinsufficiency of the neuronal cell adhesion molecule Neurotrimin (NTM) might increase the risk for ASD and could affect brain structure volumes. We searched for deleterious mutations affecting NTM in 1256 ASD patients and 1287 controls, using SNP arrays, and by direct sequencing of 250 ASD patients and 180 controls. We compared our results to those obtained from independent cohorts of ASD patients and controls. We identified two patients with Copy Number Variants (CNV) encompassing NTM, one with a large de novo deletion, and a clinical phenotype of JS (including macrocephaly), and a second with a paternally inherited duplication, not consistent with JS. Interestingly, no similar CNVs were observed in controls. We did not observe enrichment for deleterious NTM mutations in our cohort. We then explored if the macrocephaly in the patient with JS was associated with a homogeneous increase of brain structures volumes using automatic segmentation. Compared to subjects without NTM micro-rearrangements (n=188), the patient had an increased volume of the sub-cortical structures but a decrease of the occipital gray matter. Finally our explorations could not incriminate NTM as a susceptibility gene for ASD, but provides new information on the impact of the 11q24.2-25 deletion on brain anatomy. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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| 3. |
- Scheid, Isabelle, et al.
(författare)
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Heterozygous FA2H mutations in autism spectrum disorders
- 2013
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Ingår i: BMC Medical Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2350. ; 14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Widespread abnormalities in white matter development are frequently reported in cases of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and could be involved in the disconnectivity suggested in these disorders. Homozygous mutations in the gene coding for fatty-acid 2-hydroxylase (FA2H), an enzyme involved in myelin synthesis, are associated with complex leukodystrophies, but little is known about the functional impact of heterozygous FA2H mutations. We hypothesized that rare deleterious heterozygous mutations of FA2H might constitute risk factors for ASD. Methods We searched deleterious mutations affecting FA2H, by genotyping 1256 independent patients with ASD genotyped using Genome Wide SNP arrays, and also by sequencing in independent set of 186 subjects with ASD and 353 controls. We then explored the impact of the identified mutations by measuring FA2H enzymatic activity and expression, in transfected COS7 cells. Results One heterozygous deletion within 16q22.3-q23.1 including FA2H was observed in two siblings who share symptoms of autism and severe cognitive impairment, axial T2-FLAIR weighted MRI posterior periventricular white matter lesions. Also, two rare non-synonymous mutations (R113W and R113Q) were reported. Although predictive models suggested that R113W should be a deleterious, we did not find that FA2H activity was affected by expression of the R113W mutation in cultured COS cells. Conclusions While our results do not support a major role for FA2H coding variants in ASD, a screening of other genes related to myelin synthesis would allow us to better understand the role of non-neuronal elements in ASD susceptibility.
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