title: The central nervous system patterning gene variants associated with clinical symptom severity of autism spectrum disorders.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Central nervous system (CNS) patterning genes are recognized as candidate genes for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) based on neuroimaging and neuropathological evidence. Several genes that regulate CNS development are shown to be associated with ASD. Our previous family-based association study also revealed that a specific haplotype of WNT2 (wingless-type MMTV integration site family member 2) gene was overtransmitted to probands with ASD. Whether the CNS patterning genes moderate the clinical phenotype of ASD is unclear. This study investigated the genetic associations of WNT2, engrailed 2 (EN2), and forkhead box P2 (FOXP2) with the clinical symptom severity.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample included 391 patients (males, 88.3%; mean age±standard deviation, 9.5±4.4 years) diagnosed with ASDs. Tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of EN2, WNT2, and FOXP2 were genotyped. The single-locus and multilocus markers were tested for association.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that multilocus markers of WNT2 were associated with stereotyped behaviors whereas the markers of FOXP2 tended to be associated with social deficits. Moreover, an SNP of WNT2 showed a trend to be associated with less inattentive symptoms.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings that WNT2 and FOXP2 may moderate the clinical phenotypes of ASD provide evidence to support the possible universal effect of WNT2 and FOXP2 on neurodevelopmental symptom dimensions. Such findings warrant further validation in other independent samples.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Clinical trial registration identifier: NCT00494754.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yi-Ling
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Chien
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Yu
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsin-I
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wen-Che
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yen-Nan
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Taoyuan Psychiatric Center, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shih-Kai
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Psychology, School of Occupational Therapy, Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: gaushufe@ntu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Susan Shur-Fen
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Gau
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010641:Phenotype; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013624:Taiwan; D051154:Wnt2 Protein / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C465448:FOXP2 protein, human; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors; C495244:WNT2 protein, human; D051154:Wnt2 Protein
keywords: EN2; FOXP2; WNT2; autism spectrum disorder; phenotype