Abstract
BackgroundAutism is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder with high heritability. Zinc finger protein 804A (ZNF804A) was suggested to play important roles in neurodevelopment. Previous studies indicated that single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1344706 in ZNF804A was strongly associated with schizophrenia and might influence social interaction. Only one study explored the significance of ZNF804A polymorphisms in autism, which discovered that rs7603001 was nominally associated with autism. Moreover, no previous study investigated the association between ZNF804A and autism in a Han Chinese population. Here, we investigated whether these two SNPs (rs1344706 and rs7603001) in ZNF804A contribute to the risk of autism in a Han Chinese population.MethodsWe performed a family-based association study in 640 Han Chinese autism trios. Sanger sequencing was used for sample genotyping. Then, single marker association analyses were conducted using the family-based association test (FBAT) program.ResultsNo significant association was found between the two SNPs (rs1344706 and rs7603001) in ZNF804A and autism (P > 0.05).ConclusionsOur findings suggested that rs1344706 and rs7603001 in ZNF804A might not be associated with autism in a Han Chinese population.
Highlights
Autism is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder with high heritability
Previous studies indicated that single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1344706 in Zinc finger protein 804A (ZNF804A) was strongly associated with schizophrenia (SCZ) [13, 17–21]
All the parents were evaluated through unstructured interviews by two psychiatrists to confirm that they were not affected with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
Summary
Zinc finger protein 804A (ZNF804A) was suggested to play important roles in neurodevelopment. Previous studies indicated that singlenucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1344706 in ZNF804A was strongly associated with schizophrenia and might influence social interaction. No previous study investigated the association between ZNF804A and autism in a Han Chinese population. We investigated whether these two SNPs (rs1344706 and rs7603001) in ZNF804A contribute to the risk of autism in a Han Chinese population. Postmortem studies of autistic individuals detected reduced expression of ZNF804A in the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG), which was implicated in social behaviors and cognition [15, 16]. These findings suggested that ZNF804A might play important roles in neurodevelopment
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