An interstitial 17q11.2 de novo deletion involving the CDK5R1 gene in a high-functioning autistic patient

We describe a 32-year-old male patient diagnosed with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder carrying a de novo 196-kb interstitial deletion at chromosome 17q11.2. The deletion was detected by array CGH (180K Agilent) and confirmed by quantitative PCR on genomic DNA. The deleted region spans the entire PSMD11 and CDK5R1 genes and partially the MYO1D gene. The CDK5R1 gene encodes for a regulatory subunit of the cyclin-dependent kinase 5 responsible for its brain-specific activation. This gene has been previously associated with intellectual disability in humans. A reduction in CDK5R1 transcript was detected, consistent with the genomic deletion. Based on the functional role of CDK5R1 , this gene appears as the best candidate to explain the clinical phenotype of our patient, whose neuropsychological profile has more resemblance with some of the higher brain function anomalies recently described in the CreERp35 conditional knockout mouse model than previously described patients with intellectual disability.