PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Eric Deneault
AU  - Muhammad Faheem
AU  - Sean H. White
AU  - Deivid C. Rodrigues
AU  - Song Sun
AU  - Wei Wei
AU  - Alina Piekna
AU  - Tadeo Thompson
AU  - Jennifer L. Howe
AU  - Leon Chalil
AU  - Vickie Kwan
AU  - Susan Walker
AU  - Peter Pasceri
AU  - Frederick P. Roth
AU  - Ryan K.C. Yuen
AU  - Karun K. Singh
AU  - James Ellis
AU  - Stephen W. Scherer
TI  - <em>CNTN5</em><sup>−/+</sup> or <em>EHMT2</em><sup>−/+</sup> iPSC-Derived Neurons from Individuals with Autism Develop Hyperactive Neuronal Networks
AID  - 10.1101/368928
DP  - 2018 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 368928
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/07/14/368928.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/07/14/368928.full
AB  - Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cortical neurons are increasingly used as a model to study developmental aspects of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), which is clinically and genetically heterogeneous. To study the complex relationship of rare (penetrant) variant(s) and common (weaker) polygenic risk variant(s) to ASD, “isogenic” iPSC-derived neurons from probands and family-based controls, for modeling, is critical. We developed a standardized set of procedures, designed to control for heterogeneity in reprogramming and differentiation, and generated 53 different iPSC-derived glutamatergic neuronal lines from 25 participants from 12 unrelated families with ASD (14 ASD-affected individuals, 3 unaffected siblings, 8 unaffected parents). Heterozygous de novo (7 families; 16p11.2, NRXN1, DLGAP2, CAPRIN1, VIP, ANOS1, THRA) and rare-inherited (2 families; CNTN5, AGBL4) presumed-damaging variants were characterized in ASD risk genes/loci. In three additional families, functional candidates for ASD (SET), and combinations of putative etiologic variants (GLI3/KIF21A and EHMT2/UBE2I combinations in separate families), were modeled. We used a large-scale multi-electrode array (MEA) as our primary high-throughput phenotyping assay, followed by patch clamp recordings. Our most compelling new results revealed a consistent spontaneous network hyperactivity in neurons deficient for CNTN5 or EHMT2. Our biobank of iPSC-derived neurons and accompanying genomic data are available to accelerate ASD research.