| 1. |
- Betancur, Catalina, et al.
(författare)
-
Serotonin transporter gene polymorphisms and hyperserotonemia in autistic disorder
- 2002
-
Ingår i: Molecular Psychiatry. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1359-4184 .- 1476-5578. ; 7:1, s. 67-71
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Previous studies have provided conflicting evidence regarding the association of the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene with autism. Two polymorphisms have been identified in the human 5-HTT gene, a VNTR in intron 21 and a functional deletion/insertion in the promoter region (5-HTTLPR) with short and long variants.2 Positive associations of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism with autism have been reported by two family-based studies, but one found preferential transmission of the short allele3 and the other of the long allele.4 Two subsequent studies failed to find evidence of transmission disequilibrium at the 5-HTTLPR locus.5,6 These conflicting results could be due to heterogeneity of clinical samples with regard to serotonin (5-HT) blood levels, which have been found to be elevated in some autistic subjects.7–9 Thus, we examined the association of the 5-HTTLPR and VNTR polymorphisms of the 5-HTT gene with autism, and we investigated the relationship between 5-HTT variants and whole-blood 5-HT. The transmission/disequilibrium test (TDT) revealed no linkage disequilibrium at either loci in a sample of 96 families comprising 43 trios and 53 sib pairs. Furthermore, no significant relationship between 5-HT blood levels and 5-HTT gene polymorphisms was found. Our results suggest that the 5-HTT gene is unlikely to play a major role as a susceptibility factor in autism.
|
|
| 2. |
|
|
| 3. |
- Jamain, Stéphane, et al.
(författare)
-
Linkage and association of the glutamate receptor 6 gene with autism
- 2002
-
Ingår i: Molecular Psychiatry. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1359-4184 .- 1476-5578. ; 7:3, s. 302-310
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A genome scan was previously performed and pointed to chromosome 6q21 as a candidate region for autism. This region contains the glutamate receptor 6 (GluR6 or GRIK2) gene, a functional candidate for the syndrome. Glutamate is the principal excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain and is directly involved in cognitive functions such as memory and learning. We used two different approaches, the affected sib-pair (ASP) method and the transmission disequilibrium test (TDT), to investigate the linkage and association between GluR6 and autism. The ASP method, conducted with additional markers on the 51 original families and in 8 new sibling pairs, showed a significant excess of allele sharing, generating an elevated multipoint maximum LOD score (ASPEX MLS = 3.28). TDT analysis, performed in the ASP families and in an independent data set of 107 parent-offspring trios, indicated a significant maternal transmission disequilibrium (TDTall P = 0.0004). Furthermore, TDT analysis (with only one affected proband per family) showed significant association between GluR6 and autism (TDT association P = 0.008). In contrast to maternal transmission, paternal transmission of GluR6 alleles was as expected in the absence of linkage, suggesting a maternal effect such as imprinting. Mutation screening was performed in 33 affected individuals, revealing several nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), including one amino acid change (M867I) in a highly conserved domain of the intracytoplasmic C-terminal region of the protein. This change is found in 8% of the autistic subjects and in 4% of the control population and seems to be more maternally transmitted than expected to autistic males (P = 0.007). Taken together, these data suggest that GluR6 is in linkage disequilibrium with autism.
|
|
| 4. |
- Jamain, Stéphane, et al.
(författare)
-
Y chromosome haplogroups in autistic subjects
- 2002
-
Ingår i: Molecular Psychiatry. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1359-4184 .- 1476-5578. ; 7:2, s. 217-219
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The male to female ratio in autism is 4:1 in the global autistic population, but increases to 23:1 in autistic subjects without physical or brain abnormalities. 1 Despite this well-recognised gender difference, male predisposition to autistic disorder remains unexplained and the role of sex chromosomes is still debated. Numerical and structural abnormalities of the sex chromosomes are among the most frequently reported chromosomal disorders associated with autism. However, genome scans have failed to detect linkage on the X chromosome chromosome2–4 and this approach cannot study the non-recombining region of the Y chromosome. In this study, we searched for a specific Y chromosome effect in autistic subjects. Using informative Y-polymorphic markers, the Y chromosome haplotypes of 111 autistic subjects from France, Sweden and Norway were defined and compared with relevant control populations. No significant difference in Y- haplotype distribution between the affected and control groups was observed. Although this study cannot exclude the presence of a Y susceptibility gene, our results are not suggestive of a Y chromosome effect in autism.
|
|
| 5. |
- Krebs, Marie-Odile, et al.
(författare)
-
Absence of association between a polymorphic GGC repeat in the 5' untranslated region of the reelin gene and autism.
- 2002
-
Ingår i: Molecular Psychiatry. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1359-4184 .- 1476-5578. ; 7:7, s. 801-804
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Autism is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder with severe cognitive and communication disabilities, that has a strong genetic predisposition predisposition.1 Reelin, a protein involved in neuronal migration during development, is encoded by a gene located on 7q22, 7q22,2 within the candidate region on 7q showing increased allele sharing in previous genome scans. 3–8 A case/control and family-based association study recently reported a positive association between a trinucleotide repeat polymorphism (GGC) located in the 5′ untranslated region (UTR) of the reelin gene and autism. 9 We performed a transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) analysis of the 5′UTR polymorphism in 167 families including 218 affected subjects (117 trios and 50 affected sib pairs) and found no evidence of linkage/association. Our results do not support previous findings and suggest that the reelin gene is unlikely to play a major role as a susceptibility factor in autism and/or genetic heterogeneity.
|
|
| 6. |
- Melke, Jonas, 1971, et al.
(författare)
-
Abnormal melatonin synthesis in autism spectrum disorders.
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Molecular Psychiatry. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1359-4184 .- 1476-5578. ; 13:1, s. 90-98
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Melatonin is produced in the dark by the pineal gland and is a key regulator of circadian and seasonal rhythms. A low melatonin level has been reported in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but the underlying cause of this deficit was unknown. The ASMT gene, encoding the last enzyme of melatonin synthesis, is located on the pseudo-autosomal region 1 of the sex chromosomes, deleted in several individuals with ASD. In this study, we sequenced all ASMT exons and promoters in individuals with ASD (n=250) and compared the allelic frequencies with controls (n=255). Non-conservative variations of ASMT were identified, including a splicing mutation present in two families with ASD, but not in controls. Two polymorphisms located in the promoter (rs4446909 and rs5989681) were more frequent in ASD compared to controls (P=0.0006) and were associated with a dramatic decrease in ASMT transcripts in blood cell lines (P=2 x 10(-10)). Biochemical analyses performed on blood platelets and/or cultured cells revealed a highly significant decrease in ASMT activity (P=2 x 10(-12)) and melatonin level (P=3 x 10(-11)) in individuals with ASD. These results indicate that a low melatonin level, caused by a primary deficit in ASMT activity, is a risk factor for ASD. They also support ASMT as a susceptibility gene for ASD and highlight the crucial role of melatonin in human cognition and behavior.
|
|
| 7. |
- Mercati, O, et al.
(författare)
-
CNTN6 mutations are risk factors for abnormal auditory sensory perception in autism spectrum disorders.
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Molecular psychiatry. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-5578 .- 1359-4184. ; 22
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Contactin genes CNTN5 and CNTN6 code for neuronal cell adhesion molecules that promote neurite outgrowth in sensory-motor neuronal pathways. Mutations of CNTN5 and CNTN6 have previously been reported in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), but very little is known on their prevalence and clinical impact. In this study, we identified CNTN5 and CNTN6 deleterious variants in individuals with ASD. Among the carriers, a girl with ASD and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder was carrying five copies of CNTN5. For CNTN6, both deletions (6/1534 ASD vs 1/8936 controls; P=0.00006) and private coding sequence variants (18/501 ASD vs 535/33480 controls; P=0.0005) were enriched in individuals with ASD. Among the rare CNTN6 variants, two deletions were transmitted by fathers diagnosed with ASD, one stop mutation CNTN6(W923X) was transmitted by a mother to her two sons with ASD and one variant CNTN6(P770L) was found de novo in a boy with ASD. Clinical investigations of the patients carrying CNTN5 or CNTN6 variants showed that they were hypersensitive to sounds (a condition called hyperacusis) and displayed changes in wave latency within the auditory pathway. These results reinforce the hypothesis of abnormal neuronal connectivity in the pathophysiology of ASD and shed new light on the genes that increase risk for abnormal sensory perception in ASD.Molecular Psychiatry advance online publication, 10 May 2016; doi:10.1038/mp.2016.61.
|
|
| 8. |
- Pilorge, M, et al.
(författare)
-
Genetic and functional analyses demonstrate a role for abnormal glycinergic signaling in autism.
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Molecular psychiatry. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-5578 .- 1359-4184. ; 21:7, s. 936-945
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common neurodevelopmental condition characterized by marked genetic heterogeneity. Recent studies of rare structural and sequence variants have identified hundreds of loci involved in ASD, but our knowledge of the overall genetic architecture and the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms remains incomplete. Glycine receptors (GlyRs) are ligand-gated chloride channels that mediate inhibitory neurotransmission in the adult nervous system but exert an excitatory action in immature neurons. GlyRs containing the α2 subunit are highly expressed in the embryonic brain, where they promote cortical interneuron migration and the generation of excitatory projection neurons. We previously identified a rare microdeletion of the X-linked gene GLRA2, encoding the GlyR α2 subunit, in a boy with autism. The microdeletion removes the terminal exons of the gene (GLRA2(Δex8-9)). Here, we sequenced 400 males with ASD and identified one de novo missense mutation, p.R153Q, absent from controls. In vitro functional analysis demonstrated that the GLRA2(Δex8)(-)(9) protein failed to localize to the cell membrane, while the R153Q mutation impaired surface expression and markedly reduced sensitivity to glycine. Very recently, an additional de novo missense mutation (p.N136S) was reported in a boy with ASD, and we show that this mutation also reduced cell-surface expression and glycine sensitivity. Targeted glra2 knockdown in zebrafish induced severe axon-branching defects, rescued by injection of wild type but not GLRA2(Δex8-9) or R153Q transcripts, providing further evidence for their loss-of-function effect. Glra2 knockout mice exhibited deficits in object recognition memory and impaired long-term potentiation in the prefrontal cortex. Taken together, these results implicate GLRA2 in non-syndromic ASD, unveil a novel role for GLRA2 in synaptic plasticity and learning and memory, and link altered glycinergic signaling to social and cognitive impairments.Molecular Psychiatry advance online publication, 15 September 2015; doi:10.1038/mp.2015.139.
|
|
