Premium
The Tiresias complex: Huntington's disease as a paradigm of testing for late‐onset disorders
Author(s) -
Wexler Nancy S.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.6.10.1386047
Subject(s) - huntington's disease , disease , genetic testing , medicine , neuroscience , psychology , biology , genetics , pathology
Huntington's disease represents the first disorder for which positional cloning techniques successfully localized an autosomal gene — in 1983. Events since that time have proved the gene recalcitrant to identification and characterization. Since 1986, presymptomatic and prenatal testing for Huntington's disease has been available internationally, although on a limited basis. Testing for Huntington's disease provides an excellent model for designing service programs for genetic testing for late‐onset, fatal disorders, particularly when the gene is not yet in hand and no therapeutic intervention is possible. Special training and precautions must be in place before presymptomatic genetic testing should be offered.— Wexler, N. S. The Tiresias complex: Huntington's disease as a paradigm of testing for late‐onset disorders. FASEB J. 6: 2820‐2825; 1992.