Elsevier

Medical Hypotheses

Volume 103, June 2017, Pages 118-123
Medical Hypotheses

Connecting the dots: Overlaps between autism and cancer suggest possible common mechanisms regarding signaling pathways related to metabolic alterations

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2017.05.004Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Abstract

Common features between autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and cancer have been discerned using methodologies from a number of disciplines, including genetics, bioinformatics and epidemiological studies. To understand such apparent overlaps between these two conditions and the mechanisms that may underlie these linkages, it is important to look at their multi-level systems context. Here we discuss ASDs and cancer linkages across levels ranging from genes to pathways and systems, as well as from the vantage points of mechanism and of clinical and epidemiological studies. Review of existing findings yielded evidence that ASDs and cancer overlap extensively in signal transduction pathways that are involved in metabolic processes. We hypothesize that further studies focusing on illuminating the relationships between ASDs and cancer, specifically with regard to signaling pathways that regulate metabolic activities, could help shed new insight on these conditions and develop treatment strategies that, by targeting underlying mechanisms, may be more efficient and effective for both conditions.

Keywords

Autism spectrum disorders
Cancer
Systems biology
Metabolism
Signal transduction
Signaling pathway
Mitochondria

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