1. Disruption of RFX family transcription factors causes autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, intellectual disability, and dysregulated behavior.
- Author
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Harris HK, Nakayama T, Lai J, Zhao B, Argyrou N, Gubbels CS, Soucy A, Genetti CA, Suslovitch V, Rodan LH, Tiller GE, Lesca G, Gripp KW, Asadollahi R, Hamosh A, Applegate CD, Turnpenny PD, Simon MEH, Volker-Touw CML, Gassen KLIV, Binsbergen EV, Pfundt R, Gardeitchik T, Vries BBA, Immken LL, Buchanan C, Willing M, Toler TL, Fassi E, Baker L, Vansenne F, Wang X, Ambrus JL Jr, Fannemel M, Posey JE, Agolini E, Novelli A, Rauch A, Boonsawat P, Fagerberg CR, Larsen MJ, Kibaek M, Labalme A, Poisson A, Payne KK, Walsh LE, Aldinger KA, Balciuniene J, Skraban C, Gray C, Murrell J, Bupp CP, Pascolini G, Grammatico P, Broly M, Küry S, Nizon M, Rasool IG, Zahoor MY, Kraus C, Reis A, Iqbal M, Uguen K, Audebert-Bellanger S, Ferec C, Redon S, Baker J, Wu Y, Zampino G, Syrbe S, Brosse I, Jamra RA, Dobyns WB, Cohen LL, Blomhoff A, Mignot C, Keren B, Courtin T, Agrawal PB, Beggs AH, and Yu TW
- Subjects
- Adult, Humans, Regulatory Factor X Transcription Factors, Transcription Factors genetics, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity genetics, Autism Spectrum Disorder genetics, Autistic Disorder genetics, Intellectual Disability genetics
- Abstract
Purpose: We describe a novel neurobehavioral phenotype of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual disability, and/or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) associated with de novo or inherited deleterious variants in members of the RFX family of genes. RFX genes are evolutionarily conserved transcription factors that act as master regulators of central nervous system development and ciliogenesis., Methods: We assembled a cohort of 38 individuals (from 33 unrelated families) with de novo variants in RFX3, RFX4, and RFX7. We describe their common clinical phenotypes and present bioinformatic analyses of expression patterns and downstream targets of these genes as they relate to other neurodevelopmental risk genes., Results: These individuals share neurobehavioral features including ASD, intellectual disability, and/or ADHD; other frequent features include hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli and sleep problems. RFX3, RFX4, and RFX7 are strongly expressed in developing and adult human brain, and X-box binding motifs as well as RFX ChIP-seq peaks are enriched in the cis-regulatory regions of known ASD risk genes., Conclusion: These results establish a likely role of deleterious variation in RFX3, RFX4, and RFX7 in cases of monogenic intellectual disability, ADHD and ASD, and position these genes as potentially critical transcriptional regulators of neurobiological pathways associated with neurodevelopmental disease pathogenesis.
- Published
- 2021
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