Autism and Cancer Share Risk Genes, Pathways, and Drug Targets

Jacqueline N Crawley; Wolf-Dietrich Heyer; Janine M LaSalle

doi:10.1016/j.tig.2016.01.001

Autism and Cancer Share Risk Genes, Pathways, and Drug Targets

Trends Genet. 2016 Mar;32(3):139-146. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2016.01.001. Epub 2016 Jan 29.

Authors

Jacqueline N Crawley¹, Wolf-Dietrich Heyer², Janine M LaSalle³

Affiliations

¹ MIND Institute, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA. Electronic address: crawley@ucdavis.edu.
² Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA; Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, 95817, USA.
³ MIND Institute, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA; Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, 95817, USA; Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Genome Center, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.

Abstract

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder, diagnosed behaviorally by social and communication deficits, repetitive behaviors, and restricted interests. Recent genome-wide exome sequencing has revealed extensive overlap in risk genes for autism and for cancer. Understanding the genetic commonalities of autism(s) and cancer(s), with a focus on mechanistic pathways, could lead to repurposed therapeutics.

Keywords: DNA repair; autism; cancer; chromatin remodeling; gene; signaling pathway.

Autism and Cancer Share Risk Genes, Pathways, and Drug Targets

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

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