Autism reelin

A mutation in the reeler gene has recently been associated with autism (Keller et al., 2000). Mild abnormalities in cortical neuron migration and in reelin-containing cortical interneurons have been observed in the brains of schizophrenic subjects (Guidotti et ah, 2000). Therefore, a mutation in the reelin gene has also been implicated in schizophrenia. Changes in reelin have also been reported in the hippocampus in affective disorders (Eatemi et al., 2000). 

Zhang H, Liu X, Zhang C, Mundo E, Macciardi E, Grayson DR, Guidotti AR, Holden JJ (2002) Reelin gene alleles and susceptibility to autism spectmm disorders. Mol Psychiatry 7 1012-1017... 

The Reelin gene has been implicated in the aetiology of neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia and autism (Abrahams Geschwind, 2008 Fatemi, 2005 Keller Persico, 2003). Interestingly, a common variant of the Reelin gene has been found to increase schizophrenia risk only in women (Shifman et al., 2008), confirming that gene-sex interactions can be important for neurodevelopmental disorders. 

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