Recent genetic studies have identified several neuronal cell-adhesion genes, including NRXN1 (neurexin 1)35,36, CNTNAP2 (refs 37-39) and PCDH10 (protocadherin 10)40, as potentially disrupted in rare ASD cases. Cadherins represent a large group of transmembrane proteins that are involved in cell adhesion and the generation of synaptic complexity in the developing brain41. In light of the information described earlier, we note that several other cadherin genes were also tagged by the top 1,000 most significant SNPs of the combined discovery cohorts (Supplementary Table 4). In addition, SNPs surrounding several prominent ASD candidate loci1, including CACNA1C (L type voltage-gated calcium channel), CNTNAP2, GRIK2 (glutamate receptor, ionotropic, kainate 2), NRXN1 and NLGN4X, also show suggestive evidence of association (Supplementary Table 5). These sources of evidence indicate a potential role for cell-adhesion molecules in the pathogenesis of ASDs.
