We thank Drs. Constantino, Gillberg, and Lombardo for their comments on our proposal to initiate a “radical change” in the selection of subjects enrolled in research cohorts based on a reinterpretation of the heterogeneity of the current ASD category. We will first summarize our position, allowing us to clarify the points that gave rise to a number of erroneous interpretations. We will then address the following relevant questions: What can genetic epidemiology discover about autism without the help of clinical disciplines? Does the relationship between effect size and sample size exclude the possibility of heterogeneity diminishing effect sizes? How can we achieve an iterative heuristic cycle between the definition of autism and fundamental research that breaks the current deadlock?

我们感谢博士。Constantino、Gillberg 和 Lombardo，感谢他们对我们的提议的评论，该提议基于对当前 ASD 类别异质性的重新解释，在选择研究队列的受试者中发起“根本性变革”。我们将首先总结我们的立场，让我们澄清导致一些错误解释的要点。然后，我们将解决以下相关问题：如果没有临床学科的帮助，遗传流行病学可以发现关于自闭症的什么？效应量和样本量之间的关系是否排除了异质性减小效应量的可能性？我们如何在自闭症的定义和基础研究之间实现迭代启发式循环，打破当前的僵局？