Hevin is strongly upregulated in reactive astrocytes in disease conditions (McKinnon and Margolskee, 1996) and has also been linked to neurological disorders, including autism, schizophrenia, suicide and depression (Purcell et al., 2001; Jacquemont et al., 2006; Kahler et al., 2008; Vialou et al., 2010; Zhurov et al., 2012; De Rubeis et al., 2014). The gene discussed is SPARCL1; the disease is autism.