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Advances in the identification and validation of autism biomarkers

A decade on from the launch of the pioneering autism biomarker discovery initiative EU-AIMS, here we highlight advances in biomarker discovery and validation from the follow-on AIMS-2-TRIALS programme, which aims to improve the wellbeing and outcomes of autistic people through precision healthcare approaches.
  1. Bethany F. M. Oakley

    1. Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.

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  2. Eva Loth

    1. Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.

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  3. Emily J. H. Jones

    1. Centre for Brain & Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK.

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  4. Christopher H. Chatham

    1. Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Roche Innovation Center Basel, F. Hoffmann–La Roche Ltd., Basel, Switzerland.

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  5. Declan G. Murphy

    1. Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK; South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM), London, UK; Sackler Institute for Translational Neurodevelopment, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.

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Autism Innovative Medicines Studies-2-Trials (AIMS-2-TRIALS) is a public–private partnership that brings together academia with industry, charities, regulators and the autism community, to improve outcomes for autistic people by matching mechanism-based therapies to individual needs and biological profiles. AIMS-2-TRIALS extends EU-AIMS (2012–2018) — the first Europe-wide collaborative autism biomarker discovery initiative.

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Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 21, 697-698 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41573-022-00141-y

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the AIMS-2-TRIALS consortium/collaborators, including experts contributing to this article: Evdokia Anagnostou, Celso Arango, Tobias Banaschewski, Simon Baron-Cohen, Christian Beckmann, Thomas Bourgeron, Linda S. Brady, Jan K. Buitelaar, Florence Campana, Tony Charman, Christine Ecker, Richard Delorme, Louise Gallagher, Lindsay M. Ham, Rosemary Holt, Mark H. Johnson, Irena Kadiu, Luke Mason, Grainne McAlonan, James C. McPartland, Hein Odendaal, Gahan Pandina, Mark P. Richardson, Herbert Roeyers, Maria Tome, Peter Scheiffele, Emily Simonoff, Priscilla Springer, Julian Tillmann and Terje Falck-Ytter. This work received support from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking (grant agreement no. 777394) for AIMS-2-TRIALS. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme, EFPIA, Autism Speaks, Autistica and SFARI.

Disclaimer

The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the IMI 2JU, NHS, NIHR, Department of Health and Social Care, National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, nor the United States government.

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Supplementary Information

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Competing Interests

C.H.C. is an employee of F-Hoffmann La Roche. The other authors declare no competing interests.

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