title: Is there sexual dimorphism of hyperserotonemia in autism spectrum disorder?
abstract: Approximately 30% of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have elevated whole blood serotonin (5-HT) levels. Genetic linkage and association studies of ASD and of whole blood 5-HT levels as a quantitative trait have revealed sexual dimorphism. Few studies have examined the presence of a sex difference on hyperserotonemia within ASD. To assess whether the rate of hyperserotonemia is different in males than in females with ASD, we measured whole blood 5-HT levels in 292 children and adolescents with ASD, the largest sample in which this biomarker has been assessed. Based upon previous work suggesting that hyperserotonemia is more common prior to puberty, we focused our analysis on the 182 pre-pubertal children with ASD. 42% of pre-pubertal participants were within the hyperserotonemia range. In this population, we found that males were significantly more likely to manifest hyperserotonemia than females (P = 0.03). As expected, no significant difference was found in the post-pubertal population. Additional work will be needed to replicate this intriguing finding and to understand whether it could potentially explain differences in patterns of ASD risk between males and females. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1417-1423. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York.|New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York.|New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, New York.|Teachers College, Columbia University, New York.
authors.forename: Lauren C
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3631-5971
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Shuffrey
authors.affiliation: Institute for Juvenile Research, Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago.
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Guter
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York.|New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York.
authors.forename: Shannon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Delaney
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
authors.forename: Suma
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jacob
authors.affiliation: Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven.
authors.forename: George M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Department of Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville.
authors.forename: James S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Sutcliffe
authors.affiliation: Institute for Juvenile Research, Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago.
authors.forename: Edwin H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York.|New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York.|New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, New York.
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6349-1076
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Veenstra-VanderWeele
mesh_terms: D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012306:Risk; D012701:Serotonin / Q000097:blood*; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012737:Sex Factors
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D012701:Serotonin
keywords: 5-HT; autism spectrum disorder; hyperserotonemia; serotonin