🌅 New Insights into the Biology Behind Autism

SOURCE

Litman et al. (2025)

WHAT TO KNOW

• Researchers at Princeton University and the Simons Foundation have identified four clinically and biologically distinct subtypes of autism, marking a “transformative step” in understanding and treating the condition. More specifically, the researchers identified four groups of traits that people with autism share and linked the groups to biological processes associated with specific genetic profiles and developmental trajectories.

WHY IT MATTERS

• The four subtypes—Social and Behavioral Challenges, Mixed ASD with Developmental Delay, Moderate Challenges, and Broadly Affected—each have distinct developmental, medical, behavioral, and psychiatric traits, as well as different patterns of genetic variation. However, the authors say their work doesn’t mean there are only four subtypes of autism; it means there are at least four that are clinically and biologically different.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• Autism is highly heritable and implicates many genes. The researchers say their work builds on more than a decade of autism genomics research and has the potential to reshape how the condition is understood by enabling clinicians to anticipate different trajectories and treatments based on a patient’s distinct genetic profile.