Expression Analysis of Protein Inhibitor of Activated STAT ( PIAS ) Genes in Autistic Patients

The protein inhibitor of activated STAT (PIAS) protein family participates in regulation of pathways triggered by cytokines. On the other hand, recent data point to the role of immune dysregulation in the pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In the present study, we evaluated expression of PIAS genes in peripheral blood of 30 Iranian ASD patients and 41 age-and gender-matched normal subjects by means of quantitative real time PCR. PIASx expression was significantly correlated with age in ASD patients but not healthy subjects. No significant difference was found in expression of PIAS genes between cases and controls. Spearman correlation analysis showed significant correlations between PIAS transcript levels in nearly all study subgroups. However, PIAS1 transcript levels were not correlated with those of PIAS3 and PIASy in male subjects. Moreover, PIAS1 expression was not correlated with expression of PIASx and PIASy in ASD patients in spite of significant correlation in healthy subjects. The results of current study indicate a context-dependent interactive network between PIAS genes and warrant future studies to elaborate the role of these genes in ASD.