The biological basis of autism

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0959-4388(97)80093-1Get rights and content

Abstract

Stimulated by recent advances in genetics and neurobiology, there has been a rapid expansion of studies aimed at elucidating the biological basis of autism. Molecular genetic studies looking for susceptibility genes in this disorder are currently being conducted, and neuroimaging studies attempting to identify characteristic structural and functional brain abnormalities are under way. The results of these studies are likely to have a significant impact on our understanding of the pathogenesis of autism.

References (51)

  • J Herault et al.

    Autism and genetics: clinical approach and association study with two markers of HRAS gene

    Am J Med Genet

    (1995)
  • F Happé et al.

    The neuropsychology of autism

    Brain

    (1996)
  • CJ McDougle et al.

    A double-blind, placebo-controlled study of fluvoxamine in adults with autistic disorder

    Arch Gen Psychiatry

    (1996)
  • A Bailey et al.

    Autism as a strongly genetic disorder: evidence from a British twin study

    Psychol Med

    (1995)
  • S Folstein et al.

    Infantile autism: a genetic study of 21 twin pairs

    J Child Psychol Psychiatry

    (1977)
  • P Bolton et al.

    A case-control family history study of autism

    J Child Psychol Psychiatry

    (1994)
  • J Piven et al.

    The broader autism phenotype: evidence from a family study of multiple-incidence autism families

    Am J Psychiatry

    (1997)
  • J Piven et al.

    Personality and language characteristics in parents from multiple-incidence autism families

    Am J Med Genet

    (1997)
  • S Baron-Cohen et al.

    Parents of children with Asperger syndrome: what is the cognitive phenotype?

    J Cogn Neurosci

    (1997)
  • J Piven et al.

    Cognitive deficits in parents from multiple-incidence autism families

    J Child Psychol Psychiatry

    (1997)
  • C Hughes et al.

    Executive function in parents of children with autism

    Psychol Med

    (1997)
  • S Smalley et al.

    Autism, affective disorders, and social phobia

    Am J Med Genet

    (1995)
  • P Bolton et al.

    Obstetric complications in autism: consequences or causes of the condition?

    J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

    (1997)
  • A Pickles et al.

    Latent-class analysis of recurrence risks for complex phenotypes with selection and measurement error: a twin and family history study of autism

    Am J Hum Genet

    (1995)
  • EL Grigorenko et al.

    Susceptibility loci for distinct components of developmental dyslexia on chromosomes 6 and 15

    Am J Hum Genet

    (1997)
  • J Hallmayer et al.

    Autism and the X chromosome: multipoint sib-pair analysis

    Arch Gen Psychiatry

    (1996)
  • WW Daniels et al.

    Increased frequency of the extended or ancestral haplotype B44-SC30-DR4 in autism

    Biol Psychiatry

    (1995)
  • RP Warren et al.

    Strong association of the third hypervariable region of HLA-DR1 with autism

    J Neuroimmunol

    (1996)
  • E Petit et al.

    Association study with two markers of a human homeogene in infantile autism

    J Med Genet

    (1995)
  • EH Cook et al.

    Evidence of linkage between the serotonin transporter and autistic disorder

    Mol Psychiatry

    (1997)
  • EH Cook et al.

    Autism or atypical autism in maternally but not paternally derived proximal 15q duplication

    Am J Hum Genet

    (1997)
  • T Martinsson et al.

    Maternal origin of inv dup (15) chromosomes in infantile autism

    Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry

    (1996)
  • BF Pennington et al.

    Executive functions and developmental psychopathology

    J Child Psychol Psychiatry

    (1996)
  • A Bailey et al.

    Autism: toward an integration of clinical, genetic, neuropsychological, and neurobiological perspectives

    J Child Psychol Psychiatry

    (1996)
  • G Dawson

    Brief report: neuropsychology of autism: a report on the state of the science

    J Autism Dev Disord

    (1996)
  • Cited by (46)

    • Etiopathogenesis of autism spectrum disorders: Fitting the pieces of the puzzle together

      2013, Medical Hypotheses
      Citation Excerpt :

      Monogenic causes are identifiable in a minority of cases [18]. The remaining subjects have other genetic or multigenic causes and/or epigenetic influences, i.e. environmental factors that alter gene expression without changing the DNA sequence [3,8,19–21]. Several non-genetic factors have been associated with ASD (see Table 1).

    • Neural systems approaches to the neurogenetics of autism spectrum disorders

      2009, Neuroscience
      Citation Excerpt :

      The phenotypic expression of autism varies greatly among those affected with the disorder. Mild variations of the main impairment domains of autism, such as social or communicative impairments, repetitive or stereotyped behaviors and, especially, language deficits, are also often observed in the first- and second-degree relatives of autistic probands (Piven, 1997), irrespective of their own affected status; suggesting that they are also familial and may be genetically transmitted. These autism-related traits can be quantified and used to identify the genes underlying these specific aspects of the disorder in the families of individuals with autism.

    • Repercussions in children of mental disorders of their ancestors and caretakers

      2005, FMC Formacion Medica Continuada en Atencion Primaria
    • Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) and the etiology of autism

      2005, Studies in Natural Products Chemistry
    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text