Examination of association to autism of common genetic variationin genes related to dopamine.

ABSTRACT: Autism is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by a triad of complications. Autistic individuals display significant disturbances in language and reciprocal social interactions, combined with repetitive and stereotypic behaviors. Prevalence studies suggest that autism is more common than originally believed, with recent estimates citing a rate of one in 150. Although multiple genetic linkage and association studies have yielded multiple suggestive genes or chromosomal regions, a specific risk locus has yet to be identified and widely confirmed. Because many etiologies have been suggested for this complex syndrome, we hypothesize that one of the difficulties in identifying autism genes is that multiple genetic variants may be required to significantly increase the risk of deve

SUBMITTER: Anderson BM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2947794 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature