title: Zinc finger protein 804A (ZNF804A) and verbal deficits in individuals with autism.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In a genome-wide association study of autism, zinc finger protein 804A (ZNF804A) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were found to be nominally associated in verbally deficient individuals with autism. Zinc finger protein 804A copy number variations (CNVs) have also been observed in individuals with autism. In addition, ZNF804A is known to be involved in theory of mind (ToM) tasks, and ToM deficits are deemed responsible for the communication and social challenges faced by individuals with autism. We hypothesized that ZNF804A could be a risk gene for autism.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined the genetic association and CNVs of ZNF804A in 841 families in which 1 or more members had autism. We compared the expression of ZNF804A in the postmortem brains of individuals with autism (n = 8) and controls (n = 13). We also assessed in vitro the effect of ZNF804A silencing on the expression of several genes known to be involved in verbal efficiency and social cognition.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that rs7603001 was nominally associated with autism (p = 0.018). The association was stronger (p = 0.008) in the families of individuals with autism who were verbally deficient (n = 761 families). We observed ZNF804A CNVs in 7 verbally deficient boys with autism. In ZNF804A knockdown cells, the expression of synaptosomal-associated protein, 25kDa (SNAP25) was reduced compared with controls (p = 0.009). The expression of ZNF804A (p = 0.009) and SNAP25 (p = 0.009) were reduced in the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG) of individuals with autism. There was a strong positive correlation between the expression of ZNF804A and SNAP25 in the ACG (p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Study limitations include our small sample size of postmortem brains.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that ZNF804A could be a potential candidate gene mediating the intermediate phenotypes associated with verbal traits in individuals with autism.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Ayyappan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Anitha
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Ismail
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Thanseem
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Hirosaki University School of Medicine, Hirosaki, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Mahesh M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Vasu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Molecular Psychiatry, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Wako, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Takatoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ueki
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Molecular Psychiatry, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Wako, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshimi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iwayama
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Molecular Psychiatry, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Wako, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Toyota
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenji J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Tsuchiya
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuhide
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iwata
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Katsuaki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugiyama
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan; Faculty of Sociology, Chukyo University, Toyota, Japan.
authors.forename: Masatsugu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsujii
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Molecular Psychiatry, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Wako, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshikawa
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan; Department of Psychiatry, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mori
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D056915:DNA Copy Number Variations; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D020868:Gene Silencing; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D060005:Genotyping Techniques; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D051741:Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D050825:Synaptosomal-Associated Protein 25 / Q000378:metabolism; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D051741:Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors; C494208:SNAP25 protein, human; D050825:Synaptosomal-Associated Protein 25; C540527:ZNF804A protein, human