Sexual Dimorphism in Telomere Length in Childhood Autism

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are strikingly more prevalent in males, but the molecular mechanisms responsible for ASD sex-differential risk are poorly understood. Abnormally shorter telomeres have been associated with autism. Examination of relative telomere lengths (RTL) among non-syndromic male (N = 14) and female (N = 10) children with autism revealed that only autistic male children had significantly shorter RTL than typically-developing controls (N = 24) and paired siblings (N = 10). While average RTL of autistic girls did not differ significantly from controls, it was substantially longer than autistic boys. Our findings indicate a sexually-dimorphic pattern of RTL in childhood autism and could have important implications for RTL as a potential biomarker and the role/s of telomeres in the molecular mechanisms responsible for ASD sex-biased prevalence and etiology.