Autistic traits including social reciprocal deficits, communication deficits and stereotyped behaviors, are manifested not only in patients with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and their families, but also in general population. In recent years, there has much research related to autistic traits. This article summarizes research advance of autistic traits in ASD relations and general population.
Child Development Disorders, Pervasive ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Phenotype ; Severity of Illness Index ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Endothelin-3 (ET-3) is aberrantly expressed in both metastatic melanoma tissues and cultured melanoma cells. Our previous work showed that ET-3 could promote survival of metastatic melanoma cells via its altered expression. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms responsible for these gene-induced phenotypes in melanoma cells. An ET-3 gene sequence-specific shRNA vector pLVTHM-ET3-RNAi was constructed and transfected into human malignant melanoma cells A375 and MMRU, and the resultant molecular events and cellular changes were examined. As compared with the empty-vector group, cell proliferation was slowed down, and the growth inhibition rates were 38.9% in A375 cells and 38.4% in MMRU cells after transfection. In addition, cell invasion capability was also inhibited, with a reduction of 62.2% in A375 cells and 54.3% in MMRU cells. The percentage of apoptotic cells was found to increase. Meanwhile, in both cell lines, secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC) levels were down-regulated together with inhibition of its upstream signaling molecule, NF-κB. Thus, the current results suggested that down-regulated expression of ET3 attenuates the malignant behaviors of human melanoma cells partially by decreasing the expression of SPARC and NF-κB.
Cell Line, Tumor ; Endothelin-3 ; genetics ; Gene Silencing ; Humans ; Melanoma ; genetics ; pathology ; Osteonectin ; genetics