Table 1 Alignment of characteristics of putative molecular mediators of autism and known characteristics of p75NTR

Developmentally regulated brain expression or function with an inflection point at ~2 years in the human¹

Developmentally regulated brain expression with an inflection point at ~2 years in human^7,13

Differential expression in cerebellar Purkinje cells, cholinergic basal forebrain, hippocampal pyramidal cells relative to rest of the brain^3,14

Differential expression in cerebellar Purkinje cells, cholinergic basal forebrain, hippocampal pyramidal cells relative to rest of the brain^8,13

Modulated by oxidative stress and inflammation^5,6

Induces enhanced GSSG → GSH cycling in oxidative conditions^9,10

Involved in BDNF activity⁴

BDNF is one of its cognate ligands⁷

Expression and/or activity (itself and/or downstream effectors) altered in known models of autism¹⁵

All molecular species known and published to be part of the p75NTR ‘interactome’ exhibit altered (and most, upregulated) expression in the prenatal valproate model of autism¹⁶