Prospective MEG biomarkers in ASD: pre-clinical evidence and clinical promise of electrophysiological signatures.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by social impairments and restricted/stereotyped behaviors and currently affect an estimated 1 in 68 children aged 8 years old. While there has been substantial recent focus on ASD in research, both the biological pathology and, perhaps consequently, a fully effective treatment have yet to be realized. What has remained throughout is the hypothesis that ASD has neurobiological underpinnings and the observation that both the phenotypic expression and likely the underlying etiology is highly heterogeneous. Given the neurodevelopmental basis of ASD, a biologically based marker (biomarker) could prove useful not only for diagnostic and prognostic purposes, but also for stratification and response indices for pharmaceutical development. In this review, we examine the current state of the field for MEG-related biomarkers in ASD. We describe several potential biomarkers (middle latency delays [M50/M100], mismatch negativity latency, gamma-band oscillatory activity), and investigate their relation to symptomology, core domains of dysfunction (e.g., language impairment), and putative biological underpinnings.
Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; Lurie Family Foundations MEG Imaging Center, Department of Radiology, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; Neurosciences Graduate Group, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Russell G
RG
Port
Lurie Family Foundations MEG Imaging Center, Department of Radiology, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Ayesha R
AR
Anwar
Lurie Family Foundations MEG Imaging Center, Department of Radiology, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Matthew
M
Ku
Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; Neurosciences Graduate Group, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Gregory C
GC
Carlson
Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; Neurosciences Graduate Group, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; Bioengineering Graduate Group, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Steven J
SJ
Siegel
Lurie Family Foundations MEG Imaging Center, Department of Radiology, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; Neurosciences Graduate Group, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Timothy P L
TP
Roberts
D000818:Animals; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D055724:Electrophysiological Phenomena; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D015225:Magnetoencephalography
D015415:Biomarkers
ASD; Gamma; MEG; biomarker; latency delay; signature; translational