A total of 110 adult patients with ASD (n=61) or ADHD (n=49) with or without a lifetime history of SUD participated in a study in which we genotyped polymorphisms in five known candidate genes for (one of) the disorders, i.e. the 5HTTLPR in SLC6A4/5-HTT, rs1800497 (TaqIA C>T) in DRD2, rs7794745 in CNTNAP2, rs1843809 in TPH2, and rs6565113 in CDH13.
The unified idea on the molecular pathogenesis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is still unknown although mutations in genes encoding neuroligins and SHANK3 have been shown in a small part of the patients.
Notwithstanding complexities, our results further implicate the SHANK3-NLGN4-NRXN1 postsynaptic density genes and also identify novel loci at DPP6-DPP10-PCDH9 (synapse complex), ANKRD11, DPYD, PTCHD1, 15q24, among others, for a role in ASD susceptibility.
Loss of one Cntnap2 allele is sufficient to elicit axonal growth alteration, revealing a situation that may be relevant for CNTNAP2 heterozygosity in ASD patients.
Human autoantibodies to contactin-associated protein-like 2 (CASPR2) are often associated with neuropathic pain, and CASPR2 mutations have been linked to autism spectrum disorders, in which sensory dysfunction is increasingly recognized.
Although genetic variations in several genes encoding for synaptic adhesion proteins have been found to be associated with autism spectrum disorders, one of the most consistently replicated genes has been CNTNAP2, encoding for contactin-associated protein-like 2 (CASPR2), a multidomain transmembrane protein of the neurexin superfamily.
As ASD-associated SHANK3 mutations retain responsiveness to zinc, here we investigated how increasing levels of dietary zinc could alter behavioral and synaptic deficits that occur with ASD.
Here we generated and characterized a <i>Shank3</i> knock-in mouse line carrying the Q321R mutation (<i>Shank3</i><sup>Q321R</sup> mice) identified in a human individual with ASD that affects the ankyrin repeat region (ARR) domain of the Shank3 protein.
Phelan-McDermid syndrome (PMS) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by global developmental delay, intellectual disability (ID), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and mild dysmorphisms associated with several comorbidities caused by SHANK3 loss-of-function mutations.
Although a number of mouse models with Shank3 mutations have been valuable for investigating the pathogenesis of ASD, species-dependent differences in behaviors and brain structures post considerable challenges to use small animals to model ASD and to translate experimental therapeutics to the clinic.
Nonetheless, when viewed in light of two independent studies published in this issue of AJHG showing a relationship between ASD and common CNTNAP2 alleles, the cytogenetic and mutation screening data suggest that rare variants may also contribute to the pathophysiology of ASD, but place limits on the magnitude of this contribution.
Together with these findings, we have identified maternal genetic effects not previously identified in ASD at a locus in SHANK3 on chromosome 22 and a locus in WBSCR17 on chromosome 7 (associated with Williams syndrome).
Mutation in the SHANK3 human gene leads to different neuropsychiatric diseases including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), intellectual disabilities and Phelan-McDermid syndrome.
Deletions and mutations in the SHANK3 gene are strongly associated with autism spectrum disorder and underlie the autism-associated disorder Phelan-McDermid syndrome.
Several large-scale genomic studies have supported an association between cases of autism spectrum disorder and mutations in the genes SH3 and multiple ankyrin repeat domains protein 1 (SHANK1), SHANK2 and SHANK3, which encode a family of postsynaptic scaffolding proteins that are present at glutamatergic synapses in the CNS.
To assess whether deletion of Shank3 in mice results in ASD-like behavior, we conducted a battery of behavioral experiments to characterize Shank3B<sup>-/-</sup> mice, including repetitive grooming behavior tests, three-chamber tests and resident-intruder tests.
These findings demonstrate that risk associated variation in the CNTNAP2 gene impacts on brain activation in healthy non-autistic individuals during a language processing task providing evidence of the effect of genetic variation in CNTNAP2 on a core feature of ASDs.
Shank/ProSAP proteins are major scaffold proteins of the postsynaptic density; mutations in the human SHANK3 gene are associated with intellectual disability or autism spectrum disorders.
Introduction of this human ASD mutation into mice resulted in a small subset of phenotypes seen previously in constitutive Shank3 knockout mice, including increased allogrooming, increased social dominance, and reduced pup USV.
Haploinsufficiency of the SHANK3 gene is causally linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and ASD-associated genes are also enriched for chromatin remodelers.