Abstract
Though the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is increasing day by day, there is still a lack of a proper way to diagnose or prevent ASD. There is no study carried out in the Bangladeshi children with ASD to evaluate the association of Transferrin (TF) and Transcription Factor 4 (TCF4) genetic polymorphisms. This genetic association study was designed to explore the association of rs1867503 polymorphism of TF and rs9951150 polymorphism of TCF4 genes with ASD. We collected blood from 96 children with ASD and 118 healthy children of very similar age differences. Genotyping of these SNPs was performed by the PCR-RFLP method. SPSS (version 16) was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI). The frequency of mutant allele G for rs1867503 and rs9951150 polymorphisms was found 48% and 44%, respectively. In our analysis, both TF and TCF4 polymorphisms showed an increased risk for the development of ASD. AG heterozygote, GG mutant homozygote, AG+GG combined genotype, and G mutant allele of TF rs1867503 showed a significantly elevated risk of ASD development (OR=3.18, p=0.0003; OR=2.62, p=0.0128; OR=2.98, p=0.0002; and OR=1.94, p=0.001, respectively). Likewise, AG heterozygote, GG mutant homozygote, AG+GG combined genotype, and G minor allele of TCF4 rs9951150 also showed a significantly elevated risk of ASD development (OR=2.92, p=0.0007; OR=2.36, p=0.0273; OR=2.72, p=0.0005; and OR=1.92; p=0.0014, respectively). Our results indicate that TF rs1867503 and TCF4 rs9951150 polymorphisms are strongly associated with the development of ASD in Bangladeshi children.