title: A developmental neuroscience approach to the search for biomarkers in autism spectrum disorder.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The delineation of biomarkers in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) offers a promising approach to inform precision-medicine-based approaches to ASD diagnosis and treatment and to move toward a mechanistic description of the disorder. However, biomarkers with sufficient sensitivity or specificity for clinical application in ASD are yet to be realized. Here, we review recent evidence for early, low-level alterations in brain and behavior development that may offer promising avenues for biomarker development in ASD.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Accumulating evidence suggests that signs associated with ASD may unfold in a manner that maps onto the hierarchical organization of brain development. Genetic and neuroimaging evidence points towards perturbations in brain development early in life, and emerging evidence indicates that sensorimotor development may be among the earliest emerging signs associated with ASD, preceding social and cognitive impairment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The search for biomarkers of risk, prediction and stratification in ASD may be advanced through a developmental neuroscience approach that looks outside of the core signs of ASD and considers the bottom-up nature of brain development alongside the dynamic nature of development over time. We provide examples of assays that could be incorporated in studies to target low-level circuits.
authors.affiliation: aLaboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston,bGraduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge Massachusetts USA.
authors.forename: Kandice J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Varcin
authors.forename: Charles A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Nelson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis*; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D059906:Neuroimaging / Q000379:methods; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers