METHOD FOR DETECTING THE PRESENCE OF AUTISM OR PREDISPOSITION TO AUTISM OR TO AN AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER IN A SUBJECT AND METHOD FOR SELECTING BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE COMPOUNDS ON AUTISM OR ON AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER

摘要

The present invention discloses the identification of a human autism susceptibility gene, which can be used for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of autism and related disorders, as well as for the screening of therapeutically active drugs. The invention more specifically discloses that the PITX1 gene on chromosome 5 and certain alleles thereof are related to susceptibility to autism and represent novel targets for therapeutic intervention. The present invention relates to particular mutations in the PITX1 gene and expression products, as well as to diagnostic tools and kits based on these mutations. The invention can be used in the diagnosis of predisposition to, detection, prevention and/or treatment of Asperger syndrome, pervasive developmental disorder, mental retardation, anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, speech delay, epilepsy, metabolic disorder, immune disorder, bipolar disease and other psychiatric and neurological diseases.