Patent Document ID: 10002230
Application ID: 14604834
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of conducting a weighted gene and feature test of autism (WGFTA) for autism screening, diagnosis or prognosis, comprising: a) measuring gene expression levels for a subject for a group of genes consisting of at least 80 or more genes, wherein at least 20 or more genes are selected from each of the four gene sets listed in Tables 1.1 through 1.4 with absolute weight values ranging from about 0.50 to about 1.00 to form a set of raw gene expression data; b) normalizing the gene expression level for each gene in the set of raw gene expression data to form a set of normalized gene expression data; c) determining weighted gene expression levels for each gene in the set of normalized gene expression data using gene-specific weights from a reference autism weighted gene signature matrix (WGSM) to generate a set of weighted gene expression data, wherein the gene-specific weights are adjusted based on an age of the subject; and d) determining for the subject a risk, diagnosis, or prognosis of autism by comparing a divergence of the set of weighted gene expression data to reference gene expression data from the reference autism WGSM.