| Gilles de la Tourette's Syndrome (TS), a childhood-onset neurodevelopmental disorder, is characterized by the presence of simple and/or complex motor and vocal tics for greater than one year. Frequently, attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are comorbid with TS, either singly or together. Although heritability estimates indicate a genetic component underlying TS, genetic studies have not identified any widely implicated genes or genomic regions. Similarly, the immune system has been implicated both in etiology and pathophysiology of TS; however, direct identification of causative factors remains elusive. A TS diagnosis remains based on clinical history and exam. There are no ways to predict responders to pharmacological interventions. Blood represents a readily available substrate in which many receptors and pathways reflect neuronal receptors and pathways. Blood can potentially suggest differences in immune function underlying or associated with TS, and identify biological markers allowing diagnostic or prognostic indicators of TS, its comorbidities, and response to treatments. We examined genome-wide blood gene expression in two separate cohorts of TS subjects. These studies have identified differences in blood gene expression between patients with TS and other neurological disorders, shown age-related changes in gene expression with TS different than those in typically developing controls, and suggested different etiology or pathology associated with different comorbidities. |
