Published in:
01-11-2013 | Editorial
Genetic modifiers in Huntington’s disease: fiction or fact?
Authors:
Larissa Arning, Jörg T. Epplen
Published in:
Neurogenetics
|
Issue 3-4/2013
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Excerpt
Extensive evidence suggests that a significant proportion of variance in the age at onset (AO) of Huntington’s disease (HD) arises from common genetic variations [
1], including single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Such sequence variation and the resulting changes in protein structure and function could have an impact on various interacting metabolic networks by influencing gene expression. Such pathway interactions may influence the time when first characteristic extrapyramidal motor signs of chorea, bradykinesia, dystonia, or malcoordination become overt. Yet, the contributing variations individually might be neither necessary nor sufficient to affect the AO, in contrast to the classical
Huntingtin (
HTT) mutation itself, which leads in any case to the disease phenotype. …