Human Gene Module / Chromosome 17 / CBX4

CBX4chromobox 4

SFARI Gene Score
3
Suggestive Evidence Criteria 3.1
Autism Reports / Total Reports
3 / 3
Rare Variants / Common Variants
2 / 0
Aliases
-
Associated Syndromes
-
Chromosome Band
17q25.3
Associated Disorders
-
Relevance to Autism

To evaluate the effects of ASD-associated de novo variants in a family relative context, Kim et al., 2025 defined within-family standardized deviations (WFSD) by subtracting phenotype scores of unaffected family members and standardizing the result in 21,735 families from three ASD cohorts (the Korean Autism cohort, the Simons Simplex Collection, and SPARK); their analysis found that more genes enriched in de novo damaging protein-truncating variants (LOEUF < 0.37) and missense variants (MPC > 2) were identified using WFSD compared to raw phenotype scores, with 38 genes uniquely identified in the WFSD group, including the CBX4 gene. A de novo loss-of-function variant in CBX4 was identified in an SSC proband in Iossifov et al., 2014, while a de novo missense variant with a MPC > 2 was identified in a MSSNG proband in Zhou et al., 2022.

Molecular Function

Enables SUMO binding activity; SUMO ligase activity; and enzyme binding activity. Involved in negative regulation of transcription by RNA polymerase II. Located in nuclear body. Part of PRC1 complex.

External Links
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Reports related to CBX4 (3 Reports)
# Type Title Author, Year Autism Report Associated Disorders
1 Support The contribution of de novo coding mutations to autism spectrum disorder Iossifov I et al. (2014) Yes -
2 Support - Zhou X et al. (2022) Yes -
3 Primary - Soo-Whee Kim et al. (2025) Yes -
Rare Variants   (2)
Status Allele Change Residue Change Variant Type Inheritance Pattern Parental Transmission Family Type PubMed ID Author, Year
c.209G>A p.Arg70Gln missense_variant De novo - Simplex 35982159 Zhou X et al. (2022)
c.391C>T p.Gln131Ter stop_gained De novo - Simplex 25363768 Iossifov I et al. (2014)
Common Variants  

No common variants reported.

SFARI Gene score
3

Suggestive Evidence

criteria met
See SFARI Gene'scoring criteria
3

Suggestive Evidence

See all Category 3 Genes

The literature is replete with relatively small studies of candidate genes, using either common or rare variant approaches, which do not reach the criteria set out for categories 1 and 2. Genes that had two such lines of supporting evidence were placed in category 3, and those with one line of evidence were placed in category 4. Some additional lines of "accessory evidence" (indicated as "acc" in the score cards) could also boost a gene from category 4 to 3.

10/1/2025
3

Initial score established: 3

Krishnan Probability Score

Score 0.55625899597952

Ranking 1341/25841 scored genes


[Show Scoring Methodology]
Krishnan and colleagues generated probability scores genome-wide by using a machine learning approach on a human brain-specific gene network. The method was first presented in Nat Neurosci 19, 1454-1462 (2016), and scores for more than 25,000 RefSeq genes can be accessed in column G of supplementary table 3 (see: http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v19/n11/extref/nn.4353-S5.xlsx). A searchable browser, with the ability to view networks of associated ASD risk genes, can be found at asd.princeton.edu.
Original Source
ExAC Score

Score 0.38119848167826

Ranking 6062/18225 scored genes


[Show Scoring Methodology]
The Exome Aggregation Consortium (ExAC) is a summary database of 60,706 exomes that has been widely used to estimate 'constraint' on mutation for individual genes. It was introduced by Lek et al. Nature 536, 285-291 (2016), and the ExAC browser can be found at exac.broadinstitute.org. The pLI score was developed as measure of intolerance to loss-of- function mutation. A pLI > 0.9 is generally viewed as highly constrained, and thus any loss-of- function mutations in autism in such a gene would be more likely to confer risk. For a full list of pLI scores see: ftp://ftp.broadinstitute.org/pub/ExAC_release/release0.3.1/functional_gene_constraint/fordist_cle aned_exac_nonTCGA_z_pli_rec_null_data.txt
Original Source
Iossifov Probability Score

Score 0.845

Ranking 198/239 scored genes


[Show Scoring Methodology]
Supplementary dataset S2 in the paper by Iossifov et al. (PNAS 112, E5600-E5607 (2015)) lists 239 genes with a probability of at least 0.8 of being associated with autism risk (column I). This probability metric combines the evidence from de novo likely-gene- disrupting and missense mutations and assesses it against the background mutation rate in unaffected individuals from the University of Washington’s Exome Variant Sequence database (evs.gs.washington.edu/EVS/). The list of probability scores can be found here: www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1516376112/- /DCSupplemental/pnas.1516376112.sd02.xlsx
Original Source
Sanders TADA Score

Score 0.50550460150929

Ranking 460/18665 scored genes


[Show Scoring Methodology]
The TADA score ('Transmission and De novo Association') was introduced by He et al. PLoS Genet 9(8):e1003671 (2013), and is a statistic that integrates evidence from both de novo and transmitted mutations. It forms the basis for the claim of 65 individual genes being strongly associated with autism risk at a false discovery rate of 0.1 (Sanders et al. Neuron 87, 1215-1233 (2015)). The calculated TADA score for 18,665 RefSeq genes can be found in column P of Supplementary Table 6 in the Sanders et al. paper (the column headed 'tadaFdrAscSscExomeSscAgpSmallDel'), which represents a combined analysis of exome data and small de novo deletions (see www.cell.com/cms/attachment/2038545319/2052606711/mmc7.xlsx).
Original Source
Zhang D Score

Score 0.46344166452076

Ranking 799/20870 scored genes


[Show Scoring Methodology]
The DAMAGES score (disease-associated mutation analysis using gene expression signatures), or D score, was developed to combine evidence from de novo loss-of- function mutation with evidence from cell-type- specific gene expression in the mouse brain (specifically translational profiles of 24 specific mouse CNS cell types isolated from 6 different brain regions). Genes with positive D scores are more likely to be associated with autism risk, with higher-confidence genes having higher D scores. This statistic was first presented by Zhang & Shen (Hum Mutat 38, 204- 215 (2017), and D scores for more than 20,000 RefSeq genes can be found in column M in supplementary table 2 from that paper.
Original Source
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