Premium
The inheritance of alzheimer's disease: A new interpretation
Author(s) -
Fitch Naomi,
Becker Rubin,
Heller Anita
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
annals of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.764
H-Index - 296
eISSN - 1531-8249
pISSN - 0364-5134
DOI - 10.1002/ana.410230104
Subject(s) - pedigree chart , inheritance (genetic algorithm) , disease , family history , multifactorial inheritance , genetic heterogeneity , autopsy , age of onset , medicine , degenerative disease , alzheimer's disease , genetics , biology , gene , pathology , genotype , phenotype , single nucleotide polymorphism
Ninety‐one families of Alzheimer patients were studied to determine the proportion of familial cases, to obtain pedigrees for the analysis of the mode of inheritance, and to look for clinical differences between the familial and the nonfamilial cases. The diagnosis was confirmed by autopsy in 26 cases. Thirty‐nine cases (43%) were familial, which is defined as more than one case in the family. Our interpretation of the pedigree data is that Alzheimer's disease is etiologically heterogeneous: it may be genetic or sporadic. In the familial type we think that the disease is inherited as an autosomal dominant, with a wide range of age of onset within a family. In one‐third of these families the gene is not expressed until over age 70. No clinical differences were found between the familial and the sporadic groups.