Prioritization of neuronal apoptosis genes by their structural role in the associative gene network of autism spectrum disorder using ANDSystem approaches

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can affect up to 1% of the world's population according to epidemiological studies. ASD is accompanied by problems in social communication, the presence of limited interests, stereotyped and repetitive behavior. Among the important factors of ASD pathogenesis is neuronal apoptosis. In this work, genes involved in the Gene Ontology biological process neuronal apoptosis were prioritized according to their potential importance for ASD pathogenesis. For gene prioritization were used standard methods ToppGene and Endeavor, as well as approaches, taking into account the structure of the ASD gene network, implemented in the ANDSystem tool. The analysis showed that genes GRIN1, NTRK2, GRIK5, PTK2B, CTNNB1 and ADORA2A could be the most promising for further research in genotyping experiments.