Familial influence on age of onset among siblings with huntington disease

Adam Rosenblatt, R. R. Brinkman, K. Y. Liang, E. W. Almqvist, R. L. Margolis, C. Y. Huang, M. Sherr, M. L. Franz, M. H. Abbott, M. R. Hayden, C. A. Ross

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

75 Scopus citations

Abstract

In order to provide data relevant to a search for modifying genes for age of onset in Huntington disease, we examined the relationship between CAG number and age of onset in a total of 370 individuals from 165 siblingships, in two cohorts of siblings with Huntington disease: an American group of 144 individuals from 64 siblingships, and a Canadian population of 255 individuals from 113 siblingships. Using a logarithmic model to regress the age of onset on the number of CAG triplets, we found that CAG number alone accounted for 65%-71% of the variance in age of onset. The siblingship an individual belonged to accounted for 11%-19% of additional variance. This adds to the previous evidence that there are familial modifiers of the age of onset, independent of the CAG number. Such modifiers may consist of additional genes, which could be the target of a linkage study. A linkage study is feasible with the cooperation of a number of major centers and may be made more efficient by concentrating on sibling pairs that are highly discordant for age of onset.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)399-403
Number of pages5
JournalAmerican Journal of Medical Genetics - Neuropsychiatric Genetics
Volume105
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 8 2001

Keywords

  • Basal ganglia
  • Hereditary
  • Neurodegenerative
  • Sibling pairs

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Genetics(clinical)
  • Psychiatry and Mental health
  • Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

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