Gene Therapy for Oculopharyngeal Muscular Dystrophy
Autosomal Dominant and Recessive OPMD Inheritance
An autosomal dominant inheritance means that at least one copy of a gene were received from parents and the likelihood that the will be expressed is at least fifty percent. One abnormality within the first twenty-two autosomal chromosomes can cause the disease or disorder even if a normal gene is inherited from the other parent as the abnormal gene is the dominant one.
An autosomal recessive inheritance is another way that a disease or disorder can be inherited. This also involves a mutation of one of the first twenty-two autosomal chromosomes. With recessive inheritance a person will inherit both abnormal genes from the parents, typically the parents will be unaffected carriers of the disease or disorder as they will have only one copy of the abnormal gene. Persons inheriting both recessive pairs of abnormal genes have a one in four chance of inheritance and expression, with a one in two chance of inheriting the gene without expression and being a carrier.
