Cross-disorder comparative analysis of comorbid conditions reveals novel autism candidate genes

Abstract

BackgroundNumerous studies have highlighted the elevated degree of comorbidity associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). These comorbid conditions may add further impairments to individuals with autism and are substantially more prevalent compared to neurotypical populations. These high rates of comorbidity are not surprising taking into account the overlap of symptoms that ASD shares with other pathologies. From a research perspective, this suggests common molecular mechanisms involved in these conditions. Therefore, identifying crucial genes in the overlap between ASD and these comorbid disorders may help unravel the common biological processes involved and, ultimately, shed some light in the understanding of autism etiology.ResultsIn this work, we used a two-fold systems biology approach specially focused on biological processes and gene networks to conduct a comparative analysis of autism with 31 frequently comorbid disorders in order to define a multi-disorder subcomponent of ASD and predict new genes of potential relevance to ASD etiology. We validated our predictions by determining the significance of our candidate genes in high throughput transcriptome expression profiling studies. Using prior knowledge of disease-related biological processes and the interaction networks of the disorders related to autism, we identified a set of 19 genes not previously linked to ASD that were significantly differentially regulated in individuals with autism. In addition, these genes were of potential etiologic relevance to autism, given their enriched roles in neurological processes crucial for optimal brain development and function, learning and memory, cognition and social behavior.ConclusionsTaken together, our approach represents a novel perspective of autism from the point of view of related comorbid disorders and proposes a model by which prior knowledge of interaction networks may enlighten and focus the genome-wide search for autism candidate genes to better define the genetic heterogeneity of ASD.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-017-3667-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Clustering of co‐occurring conditions in autism spectrum disorder during early childhood: A retrospective analysis of medical claims data

“…For example, sleep and seizure disorders may be closely linked [Accardo & Malow, ], while GI and immune‐mediated symptoms may also be physiologically connected [Rose et al, ]. Increased liability for certain conditions may arise from genetic variants shared with ASD [Ingason et al, ; Murdoch & State, ; Smoller et al, ; Diaz‐Beltran et al, ] or from perturbations of metabolic pathways held in common [Frye, ; Cheng, Rho, & Masino, ].…”

Autism spectrum disorder in children with Type 1 diabetes

“…Given the high prevalence of ASD and the extra challenges facing individuals with the condition, it is important to identify with which comorbidities ASD is associated. Individuals with ASD have higher rates of comorbidities including a number of autoimmune diseases [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Some of these studies have shown an increased prevalence of ASD in children with Type 1 diabetes compared with the general population, whereas others have shown no difference.…”

Next Generation Sequencing in Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Individuals with ASD show high rates of comorbidity with other neuropsychiatric disorders, including intellectual disability (ID, 45%), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD, 28-44%), clinical depression (12-70%), epilepsy (8-30%), schizophrenia (SCZ), and bipolar disorder [84]. A number of CNVs and specific genes are associated with multiple neuropsychiatric conditions [85,86], suggesting genetic correlation between these different neuropsychiatric disorders.…”