RNA sequencing of blood from sex- and age-matched discordant siblings supports immune and transcriptional dysregulation in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The present study uses an intra-familial design, matching affected and unaffected sibling pairs by sex and age and controlling for pharmacological treatment in the autistic sibling. The aim of this study is to find ASD blood biomarkers possibly applicable within “high risk” families, where one child has already received an ASD diagnosis. Overall design: We conducted RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) in a sample of ASD unaffected siblings (SIB) matched by sex and age