Genetics in Medicine 2 Flashcards
What are the 3 types of mendelian inheritance?
1) Dominant
2) Recessive
3) X linked
What does ‘complex’ mean in a genetic disease sense?
Describes something with an inherited but not mendelian component
What does the term ‘polygenic’ mean?
the result of the action of multiple genes
What does the term multifactorial mean?
the result of multiple factors often involving genetic and environmental factors
What does lamba s refer to?
Statistic that refers to your risk of developing a condition if you have an affected sibling relative to the general population
What is familial clustering?
Refers to a condition that tends to run in families where sufferers get reoccurring headaches only on one side of the head and they can last for week
Is schizophrenia an inherited condition?
It does have an inherited component but its not mendelian, its multifactorial
What does the increased risk of developing schizophrenia if you have an affected fraternal twin compared to if you have an affected sibling suggest?
That there is an environmental component as like siblings, fraternal twins have different genotypes but share a significant environmental factor that siblings dont - a uterus
What are fraternal twins?
Non identical twins - ie. Di-zygotic twins
What does this increased risk of having schizophrenia if you have an affected identical twin compared to having an affected fraternal twin suggest?
That there is a significant genetic factor because although fraternal and identical twins share a similar environment ie a uterus etc. the difference is identical twins have the same genotype
What can a high lamba s show about a condition?
That it has a genetic component
Should a genetic disease have a higher concordance in mono zygotic or dizygotic twins?
Mono zygotic
Do cancer, hypertension, manic depression and acute infection and death have a higher concordance in MZ or DZ twins?
Cancer, hypertension, manic depression all have higher concordance in MZ twins suggesting a genetic component
Acute infection and death dont have a higher concordance in MZ twins suggesting no genetic component
What are the 2 main problems with twin studies?
1) Assumption that the degree of environmental sharing is the same for all MZ twins - can be large differences in birth weight in MZ demonstrating a different pre natal environment, variation in the time of splitting of the early embryo, diamniotic MZ twins survive better than monchorionic
2) DZ can share more than half their genes
Why are adoption studies performed, what kinds of conditions are they usually carried out for and why are they no longer carried out as often?
Child is put in different environment because of adoption
Can compare the fates of its adoptive versus biological family
Share genes but not environments with its biological parents
Share environments but not genes with its adoptive parents
Most often performed for psychiatric conditions
Adoptions are becoming rarer and there are ethical issues about contacting the biological family
Are genes dominant or recessive in multifactorial conditions?
Neither they are additive
How do traits with multifactorial inheritance tend to be distributed in the population?
Normally distributed - Gaussian, bell shaped curve
Do conditions with polygenic/multifactorial/complex inheritance tend to run in families, if so in what pattern?
Yes but not in a simple mendelian fashion
Name 6 congenital malformations with multifactorial inheritance?
1) Cleft lip/palate
2) Congenital hip dislocation
3) Congenital heart defects
4) NTDs
5) Pyloric stenosis
6) Talipes
Name 16 acquired diseases of childhood and adult life with multifactorial inheritance?
1) Cancer
2) Autism
3) Bipolar disorder
4) Chrohn’s disease
5) Diabetes
6) Parkinsons disease
7) Asthma
8) Epilepsy
9) Glaucoma
10) IHD
11) Stroke
12) Psoriasis
13) Hypertension
14) Schizophrenia
15) Multiple Sclerosis
16) Rheumatoid Arthritis
Although NTDs are a congenital defect showing multifactorial inheritance, what environmental factor can significantly reduce the risk?
Maternal folic acid supplementation
50-70% of NTDs can be prevented
Roughly how does a genome wide association study (GWAS) work?
Have a control and a case sample
Controls are as similar ‘environmentally’ as possible to cases, same sex ethnicity, socioeconomic back ground etc.
Look for common variants (SNPs) that are present much more significantly in the cases than the controls - if significantly more frequent in the cases then you have found an allele with an association
What kind of analysis is used to identify genes implicated in mendelian diseases?
Linkage analysis
Look for the pattern of inheritance in a family, look for an allele or patch of chromosome that exactly follows that inheritance pattern
Are genes with high magnitude of effect and low frequency in the population more likely to be implicated in mendelian or multifactorial disease and how are they likely to be identified?
Likely to be mendelian
Identified by linkage analysis
Are genes with a low magnitude of effect and high frequency in the population likely to be implicated in mendelian or multifactorial disease and how are the likely to be identified?
Multifactorial
Association studies
Why are genes with low magnitude of effect and low frequency in the population not analysed?
They have little clinical significance
What are SNPs?
Single nucleotide polymorphisms
Alleles with one base changed, present in more than 1% of the population
What is the difference between a mutation and a polymorphism?
Polymorphism is a mutation that is present in more than 1% of the population
What does linkage disequilibrium refer to and how does this affect association studies?
Refers to the fact that there will be some SNPs that have a high association with a disease causing SNP but arent actually disease causing themselves
This is because most disease causing mutations are descended from one or few ancestral chromosomes and over generations as that mutated allele is inherited, the alleles around it are inherited too
Means in association studies some of the SNPs with associations shown will not be disease causing themselves but are strongly associated with the disease causing allele
Why is it important when taking a family history for familial cancer to confirm the types of cancers with medical records, cancer registries or death certificates?
You need the correct anatomical region and histological diagnosis
You do not inherit a generalised risk, its tissue and histology specific
Why should you include age at diagnosis in a family history for risk of cancer?
Because familial cancers tend to have an earlier onset
How many generations should be asked about in a family history for cancer risk?
At least 3
Do you have tend to have multiple primary in familial or sporadic cancer?
Multiple primaries in familial cancer
Tends to be one in sporadic cancer
Name 2 cancers that are rarely genetic?
1) Lung
2) Cervical
When is diagnostic testing performed in the case of familial cancer and when is predictive testing performed?
Diagnostic testing - performed on DNA affected with cancer to try to identify the familial mutation
Predictive testing - if a mutation is identified in the family, predictive testing for the specific mutation may then be offered to the other relatives to determine whether or not they are at risk
What is retinoblastoma and what gene is it caused by, with what kind of inheritance?
Childhood occular cancer
Very rare
Caused by retinoblastoma (Rb1) gene, classic example following Knudson 2 hit hypothesis
Is inherited retinoblastoma (with one mutated gene in the germline) usually unilateral or bilateral?
Bilateral
but 15% of unilateral cases are germline
What other cancer are children with inherited retinoblastoma at risk of?
Osteosarcoma
What is Familial adenomatous polyposis and which cancer does it increase the risk of?
Hundreds of bowel polyps (adenomas) from teens onwards - blanket of polyps that are impossible to remove them all High risk (up to 100%) of bowel cancer if left untreated (one of polyps suddenly becomes malignant)
What is the treatment for familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP)?
Colonoscopies to monitor
Total colectomy in late teens/early 20s
What are the 3 other features of familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) other than polyps?
1) CHRPE
2) Desmoid tumours
3) Osteomas
Which gene is implicated in familial adenomatous polyposis and what i the mode of inheritance?
APC tumour suppressor gene
Autosomal dominant inheritance
What is hereditary non polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC)?
Polyps are common but not polyposis (blanket of polyps)
60-80% risk of bowel adenomas or cancer from mid 20s onwards
What 4 other types of cancer have increased risk with hereditary non polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC)?
1) Endometrial
2) Ovarian
3) Stomach
4) Gynaecological
Hereditary non polyposis colorectal cancer is caused by 4 genes, what type of genes are they and what is there mode of inheritance?
1) MLH1
2) MSH2
3) MSH6
4) PMS1/2
Mismatch repair enzymes
Autosomal dominant inheritance
Whats the name of the criteria that must be met to confirm HNPCC? And what are they?
amsterdam criteria
1) One family member diagnosed with colorectal cancer under 50 years
2) Two affected generations
3) Three affected relatives, 1 a first degree of the other 2
4) FAP should be excluded
5) Tumours should be verified through pathological examination
What is the therapy for HNPCC? 3
1) Regular colonoscopies where polyps can be removed and can detect cancer early has been shown to improve survival
2) Regular aspirin
3) Prophylactic colectomy not recommended but women may consider hysterectomy
What is the role of BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene in terms of DNA:?
Involved in DNA repair
What is the risk of breast cancer with either the BRCA1 or BRCA 2 gene?
80%
What is the risk of developing ovarian cancer with the BRCA1 or BRCA 2 gene?
BRCA 1 - 40%
BRCA 2 - 10-20%
Other than female breast cancer and ovarian cancer what 3 other cancers do the BRCA genes increase the risk of?
1) Prostate
2) Melanoma
3) Male breast cancer
What are the 5 options for BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 carriers?
1) Breast screening - annual MRI/ mammography
2) Risk reducing mastectomies
3) Risk reducing BSO (reduce ovarian cancer risk)
4) Lifestyle changes
5) Pharmacological prevention studies
What is Li Fraumeni syndrome?
Condition with a 50% risk of cancer by age 40 and 100% in lifetime
Why should people with Li Fraumeni syndrome avoid radiotherapy?
Risk of inducing cancers
Name 5 cancers common in Li Fraumeni syndrome?
1) Breast
2) Sarcoma
3) Brain
4) Adrenocortical
5) Leukaemia