Maternal serotonin transporter genotype affects risk for ASD with exposure to prenatal stress
Patrick M. Hecht
Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
Center for Translational Neuroscience, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
Search for more papers by this authorMelissa Hudson
Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University, Ontario, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorSusan L. Connors
Lurie Center for Autism, Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Lexington, Massachusetts
Search for more papers by this authorMichael R. Tilley
Department of Biological Sciences, Central Methodist University, Fulton, Missouri
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Xudong Liu
Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University, Ontario, Canada
Address for correspondence and reprints: David Q. Beversdorf, William and Nancy Thompson Chair in Radiology, Department of Radiology, DC069.10, One Hospital Dr. Columbia, MO 65212. E-mail: [email protected] or Xudong Liu, Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University, Ongwanada Resource Center, 191 Portsmouth Ave., Kingston, ON K7M 8A6. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
David Q. Beversdorf
Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
Center for Translational Neuroscience, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
Departments of Psychological Sciences, Radiology, and Neurology, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
Address for correspondence and reprints: David Q. Beversdorf, William and Nancy Thompson Chair in Radiology, Department of Radiology, DC069.10, One Hospital Dr. Columbia, MO 65212. E-mail: [email protected] or Xudong Liu, Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University, Ongwanada Resource Center, 191 Portsmouth Ave., Kingston, ON K7M 8A6. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorPatrick M. Hecht
Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
Center for Translational Neuroscience, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
Search for more papers by this authorMelissa Hudson
Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University, Ontario, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorSusan L. Connors
Lurie Center for Autism, Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Lexington, Massachusetts
Search for more papers by this authorMichael R. Tilley
Department of Biological Sciences, Central Methodist University, Fulton, Missouri
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Xudong Liu
Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University, Ontario, Canada
Address for correspondence and reprints: David Q. Beversdorf, William and Nancy Thompson Chair in Radiology, Department of Radiology, DC069.10, One Hospital Dr. Columbia, MO 65212. E-mail: [email protected] or Xudong Liu, Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University, Ongwanada Resource Center, 191 Portsmouth Ave., Kingston, ON K7M 8A6. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
David Q. Beversdorf
Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
Center for Translational Neuroscience, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
Departments of Psychological Sciences, Radiology, and Neurology, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
Address for correspondence and reprints: David Q. Beversdorf, William and Nancy Thompson Chair in Radiology, Department of Radiology, DC069.10, One Hospital Dr. Columbia, MO 65212. E-mail: [email protected] or Xudong Liu, Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University, Ongwanada Resource Center, 191 Portsmouth Ave., Kingston, ON K7M 8A6. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Stress exposure during gestation is implicated in several neuropsychiatric conditions, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous research showed that prenatal stress increases risk for ASD with peak exposure during the end of the second and the beginning of the third trimester. However, exposures to prenatal stress do not always result in ASD, suggesting that other factors may interact with environmental stressors to increase ASD risk. The present study examined a maternal genetic variation in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) affecting stress tolerance and its interaction with the effect of environmental stressors on risk for ASD. Two independent cohorts of mothers of ASD children recruited by the University of Missouri and Queen's University were surveyed regarding the prenatal environment and genotyping on 5-HTTLPR was performed to explore this relationship. In both samples, mothers of children with ASD carrying the stress susceptible short allele variant of 5-HTTLPR experienced a greater number of stressors and greater stress severity when compared to mothers carrying the long allele variant. The temporal peak of stressors during gestation in these mothers was consistent with previous findings. Additionally, increased exposure to prenatal stress was not reported in the pregnancies of typically developing siblings from the same mothers, regardless of maternal genotype, suggesting against the possibility that the short allele might increase the recall of stress during pregnancy. The present study provides further evidence of a specific maternal polymorphism that may affect the risk for ASD with exposure to prenatal stress. Autism Res 2016, 9: 1151–1160. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Supporting Information
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Supporting Information |
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Supporting Information |
| aur1629-sup-0003-suppinfo03.docx22.2 KB |
Supplementary Table 1. Prenatal events and stress factors in the development of ASD. |
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