Display Settings:

Format

Send to:

Choose Destination
We are sorry, but NCBI web applications do not support your browser and may not function properly. More information
    PLoS One. 2011;6(9):e24691. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0024691. Epub 2011 Sep 15.

    Expression profiling of autism candidate genes during human brain development implicates central immune signaling pathways.

    Source

    Laboratory of Clinical and Developmental Genomics, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America. ziatsm@mail.nih.gov

    Abstract

    The Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) represent a clinically heterogeneous set of conditions with strong hereditary components. Despite substantial efforts to uncover the genetic basis of ASD, the genomic etiology appears complex and a clear understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying Autism remains elusive. We hypothesized that focusing gene interaction networks on ASD-implicated genes that are highly expressed in the developing brain may reveal core mechanisms that are otherwise obscured by the genomic heterogeneity of the disorder. Here we report an in silico study of the gene expression profile from ASD-implicated genes in the unaffected developing human brain. By implementing a biologically relevant approach, we identified a subset of highly expressed ASD-candidate genes from which interactome networks were derived. Strikingly, immune signaling through NFκB, Tnf, and Jnk was central to ASD networks at multiple levels of our analysis, and cell-type specific expression suggested glia--in addition to neurons--deserve consideration. This work provides integrated genomic evidence that ASD-implicated genes may converge on central cytokine signaling pathways.

    PMID:
    21935439
    [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
    PMCID:
    PMC3174192
    Free PMC Article

    Images from this publication.See all images (5)Free text

    Figure 1
    Figure 3
    Figure 5
    Figure 2
    Figure 4

      Supplemental Content

      Icon for Public Library of Science Icon for PubMed Central

      Save items

      Recent activity

      Your browsing activity is empty.

      Activity recording is turned off.

      Turn recording back on

      See more...
      Write to the Help Desk