Abstract Autism Spectrum Disorder Research Articles

HEALTHY AGING AND OLDER ADULTS WITH AUTISM: A SCOPING REVIEW

Abstract Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a lifelong diagnosis. While several studies have examined the effects of this disorder throughout childhood, few have considered older adulthood and the differences between allistic (i.e., persons who are not affected by autism) and autistic older adults. Moreover, an examination of the intersections of healthy aging in older adulthood and autism are largely absent from extant research. The purpose of this scoping review was to examine the state of literature regarding autistic older adults and the domains of healthy aging, utilizing the framework developed by Arksey and O’Malley (2005). After developing the research question, the researchers followed following the PRISM-ScR guidelines. The specific domains of healthy aging considered included physical health, mobility, mental health, cognition and memory, and social connectedness. A total of 35 articles were selected for final review. There was no definitive age group for autistic older adulthood, therefore the studies’ selection of ages for the older adult population were not homogenous. Fifty-seven percent of these studies considered only one domain of healthy aging, 23% studied two domains, while 14% measured three domains and 6% assessed four domains. No study considered all five domains. Of the five domains considered for this scoping review, mental health and cognition and memory were the most represented domains in the studies. Overall, healthy aging among autistic older adults is largely understudied. More research is needed to better identify and tailor interventions and services for autistic older adults and their families to support healthy aging.

Ketogenic diet influences the microbiome-immune axis with therapeutic potential in ASD

Abstract Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting social interaction and communication, associated with increased levels of inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction. The ketogenic diet has neuroprotective affects and decreases the severity of inflammation related conditions. A cohort of 7 children aged 7 to 19 diagnosed with ASD have improved behavioral symptoms following the ketogenic diet. This study aims to identify changes to the gut microbiome and inflammatory markers that are associated with improved prognosis. Stool and plasma samples were collected before starting the diet and up to twelve months after starting the diet. Stool samples were sequenced for microbiome data and plasma samples were analyzed for inflammation factors, ketone bodies, and miRNA presence. Butyrate kinase (Buk) DNA and RNA levels were elevated in stool samples suggesting changes to the microbiome significantly affected butyrate kinase levels in the patient’s digestive tract. Metabolomic data identified the cohort had elevated butyrate levels following the ketogenic diet further characterizing the importance of butyrate kinase producing bacteria, including Roseburia. Changes to inflammatory factors identified a decrease in IL-1B, IL-12p70, and BDNF. Decreases in BDNF, an activator of the NF-kB pathway, identifies a potential pathway for decrease in IL-1B and IL-12p70. Correlation analysis identified that Roseburia species elevated Buk DNA and decreased inflammation. While limited in sample size, these findings provide important insight into key molecular changes in the microbiome-immune axis linked to brain function that could be targeted for treatment of ASD and warrants further investigation. Supported by grants from NIH (P20GM113134)

Dysregulation of the chromatin environment leads to differential alternative splicing as a mechanism of disease in a human model of autism spectrum disorder.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects 1 in 44 children. Chromatin regulatory proteins are overrepresented among genes that contain high risk variants in ASD. Disruption of the chromatin environment leads to widespread dysregulation of gene expression, which is traditionally thought of as a mechanism of disease pathogenesis associated with ASD. Alternatively, alterations in chromatin dynamics could also lead to dysregulation of alternative splicing, which is understudied as a mechanism of ASD pathogenesis. The anticonvulsant valproic acid (VPA) is a well-known environmental risk factor for ASD that acts as a class I histone deacetylase inhibitor. However, the precise molecular mechanisms underlying defects in human neuronal development associated with exposure to VPA are understudied. To dissect how VPA exposure and subsequent chromatin hyperacetylation influence molecular signatures involved in ASD pathogenesis, we conducted RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) in human cortical neurons that were treated with VPA. We observed that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were enriched for mRNA splicing, mRNA processing, histone modification and metabolism related gene sets. Furthermore, we observed widespread increases in the number and the type of alternative splicing events. Analysis of differential transcript usage (DTU) showed that exposure to VPA induces extensive alterations in transcript isoform usage across neurodevelopmentally important genes. Finally, we find that DEGs and genes that display DTU overlap with known ASD-risk genes. Altogether, these findings suggest that, in addition to differential gene expression, changes in alternative splicing correlated with alterations in the chromatin environment could act as an additional mechanism of disease in ASD.

Electrodermal activity spectral and nonlinear analysis – potential biomarkers for sympathetic dysregulation in autism

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disease characterized by emotional and social deficits, which can be associated with sympathetic dysregulation. Thus, we aimed to analyze the electrodermal activity (EDA) using time, and novel spectral and nonlinear indices in ASD. The cohort consisted of 45 ASD boys and 45 age-matched controls. EDA was continuously recorded at rest. The EDA indices were evaluated by time-, spectral-, and nonlinear-domain analysis. Our results revealed increased non-specific skin conductance responses, spectral parameters in high and very-high frequency bands, approximate and symbolic information entropy indicating sympathetic overactivity in ASD vs. controls (p < 0.05, for all). Surprisingly, the nonlinear index from detrended fluctuation analysis α1 was lower in ASD vs. controls (p = 0.024) providing thus distinct information about qualitative features of complex sympathetic regulation. Concluding, the complex time, spectral, and nonlinear EDA indices revealed discrete abnormalities in sympathetic cholinergic regulation as one of the potential pathomechanisms contributing to cardiovascular complications in ASD.

Brain functional activity-based classification of autism spectrum disorder using an attention-based graph neural network combined with gene expression.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex brain neurodevelopmental disorder related to brain activity and genetics. Most of the ASD diagnostic models perform feature selection at the group level without considering individualized information. Evidence has shown the unique topology of the individual brain has a fundamental impact on brain diseases. Thus, a data-constructing method fusing individual topological information and a corresponding classification model is crucial in ASD diagnosis and biomarker discovery. In this work, we trained an attention-based graph neural network (GNN) to perform the ASD diagnosis with the fusion of graph data. The results achieved an accuracy of 79.78%. Moreover, we found the model paid high attention to brain regions mainly involved in the social-brain circuit, default-mode network, and sensory perception network. Furthermore, by analyzing the covariation between functional magnetic resonance imaging data and gene expression, current studies detected several ASD-related genes (i.e. MUTYH, AADAT, and MAP2), and further revealed their links to image biomarkers. Our work demonstrated that the ASD diagnostic framework based on graph data and attention-based GNN could be an effective tool for ASD diagnosis. The identified functional features with high attention values may serve as imaging biomarkers for ASD.

Intestinal Flora Composition and Exploration of New Therapeutic Methods in Children with Autism

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social communication impairments, narrow range of interests or activities, and repetitive behaviors. Early diagnosis and early intervention can achieve better prognostic effects. Many studies have shown that the occurrence and development of ASD is closely related to intestinal flora disorder, which leads to an extremely increased probability of gastrointestinal symptoms in autism children. In addition, intestinal flora disorder in early life may pose a certain threat for infants, including early colonization of microorganisms and early antibiotic administration. Meanwhile, intestinal flora disorder in autistic children also change short-chain fatty acids, amino acids, neurotransmitters in blood. This review focuses on the above points and the possible new methods for the treatment of ASD, expecting to provide new ideas for the treatment of autistic children in addition to behavioral intervention.

Joint attention in infants at high familial risk for autism spectrum disorder and the association with thalamic and hippocampal macrostructure.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heritable neurodevelopmental disorder. Infants diagnosed with ASD can show impairments in spontaneous gaze-following and will seldom engage in joint attention (JA). The ability to initiate JA (IJA) can be more significantly impaired than the ability to respond to JA (RJA). In a longitudinal study, 101 infants who had a familial risk for ASD were enrolled (62% males). Participants completed magnetic resonance imaging scans at 4 or 6 months of age. Subcortical volumes (thalamus, hippocampus, amygdala, basal ganglia, ventral diencephalon, and cerebellum) were automatically extracted. Early gaze and JA behaviors were assessed with standardized measures. The majority of infants were IJA nonresponders (n = 93, 92%), and over half were RJA nonresponders (n = 50, 52%). In the nonresponder groups, models testing the association of subcortical volumes with later ASD diagnosis accounted for age, sex, and cerebral volumes. In the nonresponder IJA group, using regression method, the left hippocampus (B = −0.009, aOR = 0.991, P = 0.025), the right thalamus (B = −0.016, aOR = 0.984, P = 0.026), as well as the left thalamus (B = 0.015, aOR = 1.015, P = 0.019), predicted later ASD diagnosis. Alterations in thalamic and hippocampal macrostructure in at-risk infants who do not engage in IJA may reflect an enhanced vulnerability and may be the key predictors of later ASD development.

A case-control study along with an epidemiological approach to CNTNAP2 polymorphism among Bangladeshi ASD children

ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) is a neuropsychiatric disorder with a hereditary component, and its prevalence in South Asia was assessed 1, out of every 93 children. Moreover, recent studies suggested that the etiology of autism is thought to be linked to anomalies in the synapse, where mutation or deletion of synaptic gene CNTNAP2 is responsible. Therefore, this research was aimed to find out specific signs and symptoms of ASD individuals as well as the distribution pattern of the CNTNAP2 allelic variant (rs7794745) as a genetic risk factor in the Bangladeshi population. A case-control study including an epidemiological survey to investigate the association and pathophysiology of CNTNAP2 (rs7794745) with ASD for the Bangladeshi population has been studied, where PCR-RFLP analysis and Sanger sequencing were used for 180 individuals (90 ASD samples and 90 healthy controls). Our retrieved data speculated a diverse clinical profile of ASD, in comparison to the control group (n=110); where 80.9% (p ≤0.001) of ASD patients (n =100) had severe social interaction difficulties, 50% (p ≤0.001) had language impairments, and 40.9% (p ≤0.001) had behavioral abnormalities. Furthermore, findings from Pearson’s chi-square test (p = 0.001) as well as logistic regression analysis of co-dominant (p = 0.0083), and recessive model (p = 0.0075) confirmed significant association between rs7794745 and in our studied sample. This research demonstrates the genetic variation of CNTNAP2 found in our studied population could open a new clue to identifying a reliable biomarker for early diagnosis of ASD though it is recommended that more study is needed with a larger group population. Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. 2022, 8 (2), 79-93

Is There an Association between the Use of Epidural Analgesia during Labor and the Development of Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Offspring?—A Review of the Literature

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are multifactorial and complex neurodevelopmental conditions usually diagnosed in the early childhood. The etiology of ASDs is commonly described as a genetic predisposition combined with an environmental impact. As a result of broadening of the diagnostic criteria the prevalence of ASDs has been increasing worldwide and the search for the modifiable factors is still on-going. Epidural analgesia (ELA) provides effective pain relief during labor and is currently the most preferred method of anesthesia during the delivery. The safety of the procedure is well-discussed and documented; nonetheless, in 2020 a single population-based study indicated an association between the use of ELA during labor and newborn risk of ASD development, which led to widespread concern. To explore the possible association between the ELA and ASD occurrence in the offspring several studies in different countries have been conducted to date. In this review we aimed to summarize the current state of knowledge concerning the association between the use of epidural analgesia during labor and risk of ASD. In conclusion, the literature review indicates that there is no significant association.

The Involvement of Hippocampal Neuroinflammation and Oxidative Stress in the Pathogenesis of Autism Spectrum Disorder: Role of the Neuropeptide Oxytocin

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder generally signified by a disruption in social interaction and communication combined with frequent repetitive patterns of behaviors or interests. Although the cellular and molecular changes in autistic brains are unclear, the neuropathological abnormalities of ASD have been identified in several brain areas, including the hippocampus. The participation of neuroinflammation and oxidative stress to ASD induction and perpetuation has also been identified. It has been reported that the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and several neuroinflammatory cytokines are abnormally increased in hippocampal brain area in individuals with ASD. Neuroinflammation and oxidative stress are also known as major factors for the induction of programmed cell death (apoptosis). Apoptosis is a fundamental process known to regulate cellular growth. Disordered apoptosis and cellular death involve a number of signal transduction cascade steps resulting from the activation of pro-apoptotic proteins and inhibition of antiapoptotic ones. According to many postmortem and animal studies, abnormalities of several apoptotic signaling pathways have been linked to the induction of ASD, one being the p53 signaling pathway. Therefore, agents that can reduce neuroinflammation and oxidative stress like the neuropeptide oxytocin may effectively manage ASD. It has been shown that oxytocin can reduce neuroinflammation and oxidative stress and improve neuronal cell growth in some neural cell lines. Therefore, this review focuses on the role of oxytocin in the management of ASD through its protective effects against neuroinflammation and oxidative stress in the hippocampal brain area.

Quality of Life among Mothers of High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (HFASD)Adolescents.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has become more prevalent globally. The disorder is predominantly characterised by low social skills noted explicitly in people with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (HFASD). The individuals usually possess a normal or superior intelligence quotient (IQ) but the disability impedes the achievement of their actual high potential, hence compromising their quality of life (QoL). Managing adversities encountered by children with HFASD often compromises the QoL of the entire family. Thus, this study aimed to identify specific domains of QoL among mothers of high-functioning autistic adolescents. The study assessed seven mothers of adolescents with HFASD using a semi-structured interview format. A thematic qualitative analysis was conducted to analyse the data. The results suggested that mothers perceived their QoL based on physical and emotional well-being, material well-being, interpersonal relationship, and environmental well-being. Intervention for HFASD is multidisciplinary, which targets a broad spectrum of symptoms and skills deficits and customises the programme to meet each individual’s different needs. Nonetheless, intervention facilities in Malaysia are seriously limited, particularly in supporting QoL for children with HFASD. Therefore, by identifying the domains of QoL would improve the mothers’ resilience in raising their children with HFASD.

Identification of Pathogenetic Brain Regions via Neuroimaging Data for Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a kind of neurodevelopmental disorder that often occurs in children and has a hidden onset. Patients usually have lagged development of communication ability and social behavior and thus suffer an unhealthy physical and mental state. Evidence has indicated that diseases related to ASD have commonalities in brain imaging characteristics. This study aims to study the pathogenesis of ASD based on brain imaging data to locate the ASD-related brain regions. Specifically, we collected the functional magnetic resonance image data of 479 patients with ASD and 478 normal subjects matched in age and gender and used a machine-learning framework named random support vector machine cluster to extract distinctive brain regions from the preprocessed data. According to the experimental results, compared with other existing approaches, the method used in this study can more accurately distinguish patients from normal individuals based on brain imaging data. At the same time, this study found that the development of ASD was highly correlated with certain brain regions, e.g., lingual gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, medial gyrus, insular lobe, and olfactory cortex. This study explores the effectiveness of a novel machine-learning approach in the study of ASD brain imaging and provides a reference brain area for the medical research and clinical treatment of ASD.

Real-Life Social-Skills Training and Motor-Skills Training in Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Con-Tatto Project Walking Down the Francigena Route.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with an early onset and a genetic and epigenetic component. ASD is characterized by deficits in socio-emotional reciprocity, impaired verbal and non-verbal communication skills, and specific difficulties in developing and maintaining adequate social relationships with peers. Indeed, restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities are required by DSM-5 diagnostic criteria. Autistic people usually need an unchanging environment (or in any case predictable and stable) and may have hypo- or hyper-sensitivity to sensory inputs. The onset of clinical symptoms occurs during the early years of life. Social skills competence is a significant therapeutic aim to be pursued when addressing ASD core symptoms. Several considerable motor difficulties (87%) in people with autism spectrum disorder in adulthood have been found. The Con-tatto project developed a project addressing social, physical, and mental health difficulties in real-life walking down the Francigena route for 9 days with 12 autistic people, by (1) Implementing daily sessions of social skills training program whose abilities were addressed to be immediately generalized and used throughout the day. (2) Educational movement and walking activity programs were led by a fitness coach. (3) The creation of walking peers’ social community with a strong and relevant impact on adults with ASD social life respecting every person’s individuality. (4) Provision of social reinforcers to reduce the stigma of people with autism and the experienced perception of low self-esteem, especially when they are bullied.

Clinical and imaging features and treatment of Calcifying Odontogenic Cyst in a patient with Autistic Spectrum Disorder – case report

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder of multifactorial etiology involving genetic and environmental factors. This population is more susceptible to develop problems such as dental caries and periodontal disease; however, it is very rare in relation to the involvement of oral cysts and neoplasms. Calcifying odontogenic cyst (COC) is an uncommon lesion, accounting for 1% to 3% of all odontogenic cysts. In most cases, its location is intraosseous, but the peripheral form may be present. Clinically, it presents as asymptomatic swelling and is usually diagnosed on routine radiographs. Due to the low risk of recurrence and favorable prognosis, conservative treatment with local excision through enucleation followed by curettage is recommended. In extensive lesions, methods such as marsupialization or decompression are indicated prior to complete removal in order to preserve adjacent noble structures. The purpose of this paper is to report a COC case in an 18-year-old patient with ASD. The lesion was removed under general anesthesia. The patient has been on follow-up for one year and there is no recurrence. This seems to be the first report in a patient with ASD.

Mothers' Experiences of Obtaining a Diagnosis and Support for their Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with communication, social, and behavioural challenges. A challenge faced by parents of a child with ASD is the process of obtaining a diagnosis and services for their child. In this collective case study, we interviewed six mothers in a large Canadian city who had at least one child with an ASD diagnosis. We asked about their experience obtaining a formal diagnosis, support, and how they perceived their children’s educational experience. Mothers highlighted the difficulties and barriers they encountered, as well the importance of support. Implications of such findings are discussed.

A case study on the ayurvedic management of Autism spectrum disorder (ASD - Vatapaitika unmada) using medhogulika and bhunana taila

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental condition characterized by qualitative abnormalities in social interactions, reduced communication skills, and restricted repetitive behaviors and activities. There is no direct reference to ASD in Samhitas and it can be considered as an Anukta vyadhi. Unmada, a disease that afflicts manovaha srothas, is characterized by the perversion of intellect, mind, and memory.ASD can be correlated to Vatika unmada. The treatment of unmada involves various Ayurvedic formulations. Medha gulika is a polyherbal formulation indicated in anxiety and mental depression, dementia and it improves memory, concentration, and brain functioning (medhya). Bhunaga Talia is an anubhootayoga indicated in treatment of apasmara, bhootonmada, vaksanga etc.Nasya and shiroshirodhara are effective in treating manovaha srothovikaras. Bhunaga taila and Medha gulika can be combined to develop an effective treatment protocol for ASD. The main aim of this study is to develop a protocol of treatment for a patient suffering from ASD, which helps manage the symptoms and make behavioral improvement. A 5-year-old female child who was brought to the OPD with the diagnosis of ASD was treated with both these medicines and the changes before and after the treatment was noted based on the Trivandrum Autism Behavioral Checklist (TABC). Minimal improvement was noted in the behavior of the child following treatment of 90 days.

Neuropsychological Approach on Expressed Emotion in Neurotypical and Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Path Model Analysis

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects individual social communication with a range of restricted behaviour patterns. People with ASD will also have difficulties with social emotional reciprocity, which is not predominantly found in neurotypical individuals. Individuals with ASD have difficulty connecting with neurotypical (i.e., nonautistic) people because they fail to identify other people's emotions and mental states. Alexithymia is a personality characteristic defined by a subclinical inability to identify and explain one's own emotions. Alexithymia is defined by a significant dysfunction in emotional awareness, social attachment, and interpersonal relationships. It is distinguished by impaired emotional awareness, which has been increasing in diagnostic frequency in a variety of neuropsychiatric diseases, with notable overlap with ASD. To empirically measure the condition of alexithymia in neurotypical individuals (N = 12) and people diagnosed with ASD (N = 12), were assessed with the Observer Alexithymia Scale (OAS) by Haviland et al., 2000. The mean age of the neurotypical is (M = 21.67; SD = 2.60) and the ASD is (M = 18.33; SD = 2.22). Using SPSS ver.20, the data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics methods. The results indicate the significant difference between neurotypical and autism spectrum disorder individuals with the condition of alexithymia. The path model, which was drawn from the SPSS AMOS version 20, emphasises the causal relationship between variables of interest from the Observer Alexithymia Scale. This study found that individuals with ASD have significant corroboration to alexithymia when compared to neurotypical individuals.

Subcortical Brain Morphometry Differences between Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Schizophrenia.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia (SZ) are neuropsychiatric disorders that overlap in symptoms associated with social-cognitive impairment. Subcortical structures play a significant role in cognitive and social-emotional behaviors and their abnormalities are associated with neuropsychiatric conditions. This exploratory study utilized ABIDE II/COBRE MRI and corresponding phenotypic datasets to compare subcortical volumes of adults with ASD (n = 29), SZ (n = 51) and age and gender matched neurotypicals (NT). We examined the association between subcortical volumes and select behavioral measures to determine whether core symptomatology of disorders could be explained by subcortical association patterns. We observed volume differences in ASD (viz., left pallidum, left thalamus, left accumbens, right amygdala) but not in SZ compared to their respective NT controls, reflecting morphometric changes specific to one of the disorder groups. However, left hippocampus and amygdala volumes were implicated in both disorders. A disorder-specific negative correlation (r = −0.39, p = 0.038) was found between left-amygdala and scores on the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) Social-Cognition in ASD, and a positive association (r = 0.29, p = 0.039) between full scale IQ (FIQ) and right caudate in SZ. Significant correlations between behavior measures and subcortical volumes were observed in NT groups (ASD-NT range; r = −0.53 to −0.52, p = 0.002 to 0.004, SZ-NT range; r = −0.41 to −0.32, p = 0.007 to 0.021) that were non-significant in the disorder groups. The overlap of subcortical volumes implicated in ASD and SZ may reflect common neurological mechanisms. Furthermore, the difference in correlation patterns between disorder and NT groups may suggest dysfunctional connectivity with cascading effects unique to each disorder and a potential role for IQ in mediating behavior and brain circuits.

Krüppel-like Transcription Factor 7 Is a Causal Gene in Autism Development

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disease. To date, more than 1000 genes have been shown to be associated with ASD, and only a few of these genes account for more than 1% of autism cases. Klf7 is an important transcription factor of cell proliferation and differentiation in the nervous system, but whether klf7 is involved in autism is unclear. Methods: We first performed ChIP-seq analysis of klf7 in N2A cells, then performed behavioral tests and RNA-seq in klf7+/− mice, and finally restored mice with adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated overexpression of klf7 in klf7+/− mice. Results: Klf7 targeted genes are enriched with ASD genes, and 631 ASD risk genes are also differentially expressed in klf7+/− mice which exhibited the core symptoms of ASD. When klf7 levels were increased in the central nervous system (CNS) in klf7+/− adult mice, deficits in social interaction, repetitive behavior and majority of dysregulated ASD genes were rescued in the adults, suggesting transcriptional regulation. Moreover, knockdown of klf7 in human brain organoids caused dysregulation of 517 ASD risk genes, 344 of which were shared with klf7+/− mice, including some high-confidence ASD genes. Conclusions: Our findings highlight a klf7 regulation of ASD genes and provide new insights into the pathogenesis of ASD and promising targets for further research on mechanisms and treatments.

Distinct neurocognitive bases for social trait judgments of faces in autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by difficulties in social processes, interactions, and communication. Yet, the neurocognitive bases underlying these difficulties are unclear. Here, we triangulated the ‘trans-diagnostic’ approach to personality, social trait judgments of faces, and neurophysiology to investigate (1) the relative position of autistic traits in a comprehensive social-affective personality space, and (2) the distinct associations between the social-affective personality dimensions and social trait judgment from faces in individuals with ASD and neurotypical individuals. We collected personality and facial judgment data from a large sample of online participants (N = 89 self-identified ASD; N = 307 neurotypical controls). Factor analysis with 33 subscales of 10 social-affective personality questionnaires identified a 4-dimensional personality space. This analysis revealed that ASD and control participants did not differ significantly along the personality dimensions of empathy and prosociality, antisociality, or social agreeableness. However, the ASD participants exhibited a weaker association between prosocial personality dimensions and judgments of facial trustworthiness and warmth than the control participants. Neurophysiological data also indicated that ASD participants had a weaker association with neuronal representations for trustworthiness and warmth from faces. These results suggest that the atypical association between social-affective personality and social trait judgment from faces may contribute to the social and affective difficulties associated with ASD.