title: Lack of association between markers in the ITGA3, ITGAV, ITGA6 and ITGB3 and autism in an Irish sample.
abstract: Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impairments in three core areas--language, social interaction and restricted/repetitive behaviours. It is generally accepted that genetics plays a large role in the aetiology of autism, but the exact mechanism is still unknown. We recently published evidence of an association between autism and the ITGA4 gene [Conroy et al., 2008]. Two genomic regions have shown evidence of linkage to autism in multiple studies--2q31-q33 and 17q21-q22. Both of these regions harbour multiple integrin subunit genes. We tested markers in ITGA3, ITGA6, ITGAV and ITGB3 for association with autism in the Irish autism sample. No markers in ITGA3, ITGA6, ITGAV and ITGB3 were found to be associated with autism. Three 3-marker haplotypes in ITGAV, ITGA3 and ITGA6 were found to be nominally associated (0.01 < P < 0.05) and to have unremarkable findings. Our data indicates that in the Irish autism sample the integrin genes tested here do not play an important role in the aetiology of autism.
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychiatric Genetics Research Group, Department of Psychiatry, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Lynne E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Cochrane
authors.forename: Katherine E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Tansey
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gallagher
authors.forename: Richard J L
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Anney
mesh_terms: D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005819:Genetic Markers / Q000235:genetics; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D039422:Integrin alpha3 / Q000235:genetics*; D039503:Integrin alpha6 / Q000235:genetics*; D039564:Integrin alphaV / Q000235:genetics*; D039661:Integrin beta3 / Q000235:genetics*; D007494:Ireland; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers; C061248:ITGB3 protein, human; D039422:Integrin alpha3; D039503:Integrin alpha6; D039564:Integrin alphaV; D039661:Integrin beta3