Investigation of Association Between Expression of DYX1C1, KIAA0319, and ROBO1 Genes and Specific Learning Disorder in Children and Adolescents

Specific learning disorder (SLD) is prevalent worldwide and is a complex disorder with variable symptoms and significant differences among individuals. Epigenetic markers may alter susceptibility to neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Aberrant expression of protein-coding (mRNA) genes in this pathology shows that the detection of epigenetic molecular biomarkers is of increasing importance in the diagnosis and treatment of individuals with SLD. We compared gene expression level of dyslexia susceptibility 1 candidate gene 1 (DYX1C1), dyslexia-associated protein KIAA0319 (KIAA0319), and roundabout guidance receptor 1 (ROBO1) between children with SLD and healthy children by performing quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). In addition, we evaluated these gene expressions of severe children with SLD compared to non-severe and male SLD children compared to females. The expression of the DYX1C1, KIAA0319, and ROBO1 genes was statistically significantly upregulated in children with SLD (P < 0.05*). DYX1C1 was also upregulated in severe SLD children (P = 0.03*). In addition, KIAA0319 and ROBO1 genes were differentially expressed in male SLD children compared to females (P < 0.05*). Furthermore, we found that DYX1C1 and ROBO1 genes significantly affect the likelihood of the SLD (respectively, P < 0.001** and P = 0.007*). We expect that the findings provided from this study may contribute to the determination expression level of the relevant genes in the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of SLD. In addition, our findings could be a guide for future epigenetics studies on the use of the DYX1C1, KIAA0319, and ROBO1 in therapeutic applications in the SLD.