Genomewide linkage scan reveals novel loci modifying age of onset of Huntington's disease in the Venezuelan HD kindreds.

The age of onset of Huntington's disease (HD) is inversely correlated with the CAG length in the HD gene. The CAG repeat length accounts for 70% of the variability in HD age of onset. However, 90% of individuals worldwide with expanded alleles possess between 40 and 50 CAG repeat lengths in their HD gene. For these people, the size of their repeat only determines 44% of the variability in their age of onset. Once the effect of the CAG repeat has been accounted for, the residual variance in age of onset is a heritable trait. Targeted candidate gene studies and a genome scan have suggested some loci as potential modifiers of the age of onset of HD. We analyzed the large Venezuelan kindreds in which the HD gene was originally identified. These kindreds offer greater analytic power than standard sib-pair designs. We developed novel pedigree-member selection procedures to maximize power. Using a 5,858-single-nucleotide-polymorphism marker panel, we performed a genomewide linkage analysis. We discovered two novel loci on chromosome 2. Chromosome 2p25 (logarithm of the odds ratio (LOD)=4.29) and 2q35 (LOD=3.39) may contain genes that modify age of onset. A third linkage peak on chromosome 6q22 (LOD=2.48) may confirm the most promising locus from a previous genome scan. Two other candidate loci are suggestive on chromosome 5 (LOD=3.31 at 5p14 and LOD=3.14 at 5q32). All these regions harbor candidate genes that are potential HD modifier genes. Finding these modifier genes can reveal accessible and promising new therapeutic pathways and targets to ameliorate and cure HD.

The relationship between CAG repeat length and age of onset differs for Huntington's disease patients with juvenile onset or adult onset.

Age of onset for Huntington's disease (HD) varies inversely with the length of the disease-causing CAG repeat expansion in the HD gene. A simple exponential regression model yielded adjusted R-squared values of 0.728 in a large set of Venezuelan kindreds and 0.642 in a North American, European, and Australian sample (the HD MAPS cohort). We present evidence that a two-segment exponential regression curve provides a significantly better fit than the simple exponential regression. A plot of natural log-transformed age of onset against CAG repeat length reveals this segmental relationship. This two-segment exponential regression on age of onset data increases the adjusted R-squared values by 0.012 in the Venezuelan kindreds and by 0.035 in the HD MAPS cohort. Although the amount of additional variance explained by the segmental regression approach is modest, the two slopes of the two-segment regression are significantly different from each other in both the Venezuelan kindreds [F(2, 439) = 11.13, P= 2 x 10(-5)] and in the HD MAPS cohort [F(2, 688) = 38.27, P= 2 x 10(-16)]. In both populations, the influence of each CAG repeat on age of onset appears to be stronger in the adult-onset range of CAG repeats than in the juvenile-onset range.

Venezuelan kindreds reveal that genetic and environmental factors modulate Huntington's disease age of onset.

Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease caused by a triplet (CAG) expansion mutation. The length of the triplet repeat is the most important factor in determining age of onset of HD, although substantial variability remains after controlling for repeat length. The Venezuelan HD kindreds encompass 18,149 individuals spanning 10 generations, 15,409 of whom are living. Of the 4,384 immortalized lymphocyte lines collected, 3,989 DNAs were genotyped for their HD alleles, representing a subset of the population at greatest genetic risk. There are 938 heterozygotes, 80 people with variably penetrant alleles, and 18 homozygotes. Analysis of the 83 kindreds that comprise the Venezuelan HD kindreds demonstrates that residual variability in age of onset has both genetic and environmental components. We created a residual age of onset phenotype from a regression analysis of the log of age of onset on repeat length. Familial correlations (correlation +/- SE) were estimated for sibling (0.40 +/- 0.09), parent-offspring (0.10 +/- 0.11), avuncular (0.07 +/- 0.11), and cousin (0.15 +/- 0.10) pairs, suggesting a familial origin for the residual variance in onset. By using a variance-components approach with all available familial relationships, the additive genetic heritability of this residual age of onset trait is 38%. A model, including shared sibling environmental effects, estimated the components of additive genetic (0.37), shared environment (0.22), and nonshared environment (0.41) variances, confirming that approximately 40% of the variance remaining in onset age is attributable to genes other than the HD gene and 60% is environmental.