EU-AIMS Longitudinal European Autism Project (LEAP): the autism twin cohort

Isaksson, Johan; Tammimies, Kristiina; Neufeld, Janina; Cauvet, Élodie; Lundin, Karl; Buitelaar, Jan K.; Loth, Eva; Murphy, Declan G. M.; Spooren, Will; Bölte, Sven; Ahmad, Jumana; Ambrosino, Sara; Auyeung, Bonnie; Banaschewski, Tobias; Baron-Cohen, Simon; Baumeister, Sarah; Beckmann, Christian; Bourgeron, Thomas; Bours, Carsten; Brammer, Michael; Brandeis, Daniel; Brogna, Claudia; de Bruijn, Yvette; Chakrabarti, Bhismadev; Charman, Tony; Crawley, Daisy; Cornelissen, Ineke; Dell’ Acqua, Flavio; Dumas, Guillaume; Durston, Sarah; Ecker, Christine; Frouin, Vincent; Garcés, Pilar; Goyard, David; Ham, Lindsay; Hayward, Hannah; Hipp, Joerg; Holt, Rosemary J.; Johnson, Mark H.; Jones, Emily J. H.; Kundu, Prantik; Lai, Meng-Chuan; D’ardhuy, Xavier Liogier; Lombardo, Michael; Lythgoe, David J.; Mandl, René; Mason, Luke; Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas; Moessnang, Carolin; Mueller, Nico; O’Dwyer, Laurence; Oldehinkel, Marianne; Oranje, Bob; Pandina, Gahan; Persico, Antonio M.; Ruggeri, Barbara; Ruigrok, Amber; Sabet, Jessica; Sacco, Roberto; Cáceres, Antonia San José; Simonoff, Emily; Tillmann, Julian; Toro, Roberto; Tost, Heike; Waldman, Jack; Williams, Steve C. R.; Wooldridge, Caroline; Zwiers, Marcel P.; the EU-AIMS LEAP group

doi:10.1186/s13229-018-0212-x

Article

Date

2018

Author

Isaksson, Johan
Tammimies, Kristiina
Neufeld, Janina
Cauvet, Élodie
Lundin, Karl
Buitelaar, Jan K.
Loth, Eva
Murphy, Declan G. M.
Spooren, Will
Bölte, Sven
Ahmad, Jumana
Ambrosino, Sara
Auyeung, Bonnie
Banaschewski, Tobias
Baron-Cohen, Simon
Baumeister, Sarah
Beckmann, Christian
Bourgeron, Thomas
Bours, Carsten
Brammer, Michael
Brandeis, Daniel
Brogna, Claudia
de Bruijn, Yvette
Chakrabarti, Bhismadev
Charman, Tony
Crawley, Daisy
Cornelissen, Ineke
Dell’ Acqua, Flavio
Dumas, Guillaume
Durston, Sarah
Ecker, Christine
Frouin, Vincent
Garcés, Pilar
Goyard, David
Ham, Lindsay
Hayward, Hannah
Hipp, Joerg
Holt, Rosemary J.
Johnson, Mark H.
Jones, Emily J. H.
Kundu, Prantik
Lai, Meng-Chuan
D’ardhuy, Xavier Liogier

Lombardo, Michael
Lythgoe, David J.
Mandl, René
Mason, Luke
Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas
Moessnang, Carolin
Mueller, Nico
O’Dwyer, Laurence
Oldehinkel, Marianne
Oranje, Bob
Pandina, Gahan
Persico, Antonio M.
Ruggeri, Barbara
Ruigrok, Amber
Sabet, Jessica
Sacco, Roberto
Cáceres, Antonia San José
Simonoff, Emily
Tillmann, Julian
Toro, Roberto
Tost, Heike
Waldman, Jack
Williams, Steve C. R.
Wooldridge, Caroline
Zwiers, Marcel P.
the EU-AIMS LEAP group

ISSN

2040-2392

Source

Molecular Autism

Volume

Issue

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Abstract

EU-AIMS is the largest European research program aiming to identify stratification biomarkers and novel interventions for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Within the program, the Longitudinal European Autism Project (LEAP) has recruited and comprehensively phenotyped a rare sample of 76 monozygotic and dizygotic twins, discordant, or concordant for ASD plus 30 typically developing twins. The aim of this letter is to complete previous descriptions of the LEAP case-control sample, clinically characterize, and investigate the suitability of the sample for ASD twin-control analyses purposes and share some ‘lessons learnt.’ Among the twins, a diagnosis of ASD is associated with increased symptom levels of ADHD, higher rates of intellectual disability, and lower family income. For the future, we conclude that the LEAP twin cohort offers multiple options for analyses of genetic and shared and non-shared environmental factors to generate new hypotheses for the larger cohort of LEAP singletons, but particularly cross-validate and refine evidence from it.