A systems biological study on the comorbidity of autism spectrum disorders and bipolar disorder

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Title	A systems biological study on the comorbidity of autism spectrum disorders and bipolar disorder
Authors	PK Ragunath¹, R Chitra², Shiek Mohammad¹, PA Abhinand¹*
Affiliation	¹Department of Bioinformatics, Sri Ramachandra University, Porur, Chennai – 600 116, India; 2Department of Bioinformatics, University of Madras, Guindy, Chennai – 600 032, India
Email	sru.bioinformatics.research@gmail.com; *Corresponding author
Article Type	Hypothesis
Date	Received August 12, 2011; Accepted September 05, 2011; Published September 28,2011
Abstract	Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a “spectrum” of disorders, characterized by varying degrees of symptoms ranging from mild to severe. Among Psychiatric disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorders have the strongest evidence for a genetic basis, yet the search for specific genes contributing to these often devastating developmental syndromes has proven extraordinarily difficult. Bipolar Disorder (BP) is a manic-depressive disorder whose symptoms are characterized by extremities in moods. It is also called as the “Mood disorder”. BP, like, ASD also has a strong genetic basis and identification of the candidate genes still remains an ongoing effort. Literature studies point to the hypothesis that ASD and BP have good chances of comorbidity and that they may share common pathways for their manifestation. But this hypothesis has not been worked on in depth. Thus, the study focuses on identifying the chances of their comorbidity by identifying their common pathways and the genes involved in the pathways and also discuss the degree of chances of their comorbidity based on the genes involved in the common pathways. Networks for the genes are also constructed to represent their commonness or uniqueness for the disorders.
Keywords	Autism Spectrum Disorders, Bipolar Disorder, Comorbidity, Systems Biology, Gene Networks
Citation	*Ragunath et al.* Bioinformation 7(3): 102-106 (2011)
Edited by	P Kangueane
ISSN	0973-2063
Publisher	Biomedical Informatics
License	This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.