Autism spectrum disorder in a patient with a genomic rearrangement that only involves the EPHA5 gene

In this report, we describe the case of a 14-year-old female Italian proband affected by ASD, carrying a novel ~ 270 kb interstitial microduplication, localized at the distal portion of the 4q13.1 region. The rearrangement was inherited from a mild symptomatic father and included a large part of the single EPHA5 gene, a receptor tyrosine kinase involved in the neural development, already indicated to be linked to ASD by previous Genome Wide Association Studies. This imbalance represents, to the best of our knowledge, the smallest duplication identified to date that only impacts the EPHA5 gene. We hypothesize that the duplication of this gene may alter EPHA5 expression and that this may impact the autistic phenotype of the patient.
Source: Psychiatric Genetics - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Tags: Brief Reports Source Type: research