Development of a cell-based metabolic test for the identification of individuals with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common neurodevelopmental condition with a tremendous impact on society and families. The biological basis of ASD has yet to be completely understood and there are no laboratory tests for this condition. Phenotype Mammalian Microarrays (PM-Ms) can distinguish patients with ASD from typically developing (TD) individuals by differential utilization of the amino acid tryptophan. By assessing several parameters of the assay utilizing customized tryptophan-containing PM-M plates, we improved the discrimination of the test, optimized test parameters, and minimized background noise by normalization while controlling for false discoveries. This improved platform can provide the first cell-based metabolic test to validate the clinical diagnosis of ASD and possibly identify individuals at risk even before the occurrence of neuro-behavioral symptoms.