miR4ASD: A Database of Human microRNAs Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition characterized by substantial etiological and clinical heterogeneity. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression that play critical roles in brain development. As such, a growing body of work suggests a role of miRNA dysregulation in several human pathologies of the brain, including ASD. However, evidence on miRNA involvement in ASD is dispersed across the literature, limiting its utility for biomarker discovery and functional insights. Here, we present miR4ASD, a manually curated and open-access database of human miRNAs implicated in ASD, covering data from case-control studies of both gene expression and genetic variant analysis. This resource integrates structured data from peer-reviewed publications, including study methodology, tissue type, expression alteration (upregulated or downregulated), sample size, number of supporting studies, and reported genetic variants within miRNA genes. To ensure objectivity and precision, 59 studies meeting the strict inclusion criteria were included. miR4ASD also integrates miRNA-target interaction data from external resources and allows users to perform functional enrichment analysis of target genes. By providing a dynamic and accessible platform, miR4ASD enables the systematic exploration of miRNA involvement in ASD and supports research in diagnostics, biomarker discovery, and systems biology. The database is publicly available on GitHub.