Diseases of genetic origin
Certain human diseases result from mutations in the genetic complement (genome) contained in the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of chromosomes. A gene is a discrete linear sequence of nucleotide bases (molecular units) of the DNA that codes for, or directs, the synthesis of a protein; there are an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 genes in the human genome. Proteins, many of which are enzymes, carry out all cellular functions. Any alteration of the DNA may result in the defective synthesis and subsequent malfunctioning of one or more proteins. If the mutated protein is a key enzyme in normal metabolism, the error may have serious or fatal consequences. More than 5,000 distinct diseases have been ascribed to mutations that result in deficiencies of critical enzymes.
Mutations are classified on the basis of the extent of the alteration. Large mutations, which include alterations to chromosome structure and number, are relatively rare because most cause such major disruptions to development that the fetus is naturally aborted. However, certain alterations are not so immediately lethal, and the fetus can survive with a characteristic disorder. Down syndrome is one such case. It involves an error in the division of chromosome 21 that results in trisomy (three copies of a chromosome instead of two are inherited), bringing the total number of chromosomes to 47 instead of 46. Many characteristics such as distinctive facial features and mental retardation result from the presence of this extra chromosome. Smaller mutations are more common and include point mutations, in which substitution of a single nucleotide base occurs, and deletion or insertion mutations, which involve several bases. Point, deletion, and insertion mutations may cause an abnormal protein to be synthesized or may prevent the protein from being made at all.
Mutations that occur in the DNA of somatic (body) cells cannot be inherited, but they can cause congenital malformations and cancers (see below Abnormal growth of cells); however, mutations that occur in germ cells—i.e., the gametes, ova and sperm—are transmitted to offspring and are responsible for inherited diseases. Each gamete contributes one set of chromosomes and therefore one copy (allele) of each gene to the resultant offspring. If a gene bearing a mutation is passed on, it may cause a genetic disorder.
Genetic diseases caused by a mutation in one gene are inherited in either dominant or recessive fashion. In dominantly inherited conditions, only one mutant allele, which codes for a defective protein or does not produce a protein at all, is necessary for the disorder to occur. In recessively inherited disorders, two copies of a mutant gene are necessary for the disorder to manifest; if only one copy is inherited, the offspring is not affected, but the trait may continue to be passed on to future offspring. In addition to dominant or recessive transmission, genetic disorders may be inherited in an autosomal or X-linked manner. Autosomal genes are those not located on the sex chromosomes, X and Y; X-linked genes are those located on the X chromosomes that have no complementary genes on the Y chromosome. Females have two copies of the X chromosome, but males have an X and a Y chromosome. Because males have only one copy of the X chromosome, any mutation occurring in a gene on this chromosome will be expressed in male offspring regardless of whether its behaviour is recessive or dominant in females. Autosomal dominant disorders include Huntington’s chorea, a degenerative disease of the nervous system that usually does not develop until the carrier is between 30 and 40 years of age. The delayed onset of Huntington’s chorea allows this lethal gene to be passed on to offspring. Autosomal recessive diseases are more common and include cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs disease, and sickle cell anemia. X-linked dominant disorders are rare, but X-linked recessive diseases are relatively common and include Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy and hemophilia A.
Most genetic disorders can be detected at birth because the child is born with characteristic defects. Thus these abnormalities are congenital (existing at birth) genetic disorders. A few genetic defects, such as Huntington’s chorea mentioned above, do not become manifest until later in life. Hence it may be said that most but not all genetic diseases are congenital.
Conversely, some congenital diseases are not genetic in origin; instead they may arise from some direct injury to the developing fetus. If a woman contracts the viral disease German measles (rubella) during pregnancy, the virus may infect the fetus and alter its normal development, leading to some malformations, principally of the heart. These malformations constitute a congenital disease that is not genetic.
Further confusion often arises over the terms genetic and familial. A familial disease is hereditary, passed on from one generation to the next. It resides in a genetic mutation that is transmitted by mother or father (or both) through the gametes to their offspring. Not all genetic disorders are familial, however, because the mutation may arise for the first time during the formation of the gametes or during the early development of the fetus. Such an infant will have some genetic abnormality, though the parents themselves do not. Down syndrome is an example of a genetic disease that is not familial.
Factors relating to genetic injury
The causes of mutations are still poorly understood. Certain factors, however, are thought to be important. Maternal age plays an important role in predisposing toward genetic injury. The frequency of Down syndrome and of congenital malformations increases with the age of the mother. This may be so for a variety of reasons. Unlike men, who produce new sperm continually, women are born with all the eggs (ova) they will ever have. Thus the eggs are exposed to the same internal and external agents that the woman comes in contact with. The longer the exposure to such factors (i.e., the older the mother), the greater the chance of genetic injury to the ova. A paternal contribution to the disease also has been discovered—roughly 25 percent of cases may be caused by extra chromosomal material from the father. At present, the nature of the factors responsible for impaired division of chromosomes remains unknown.
Radiation is a well-recognized cause of chromosomal damage. The survivors of the atomic bomb blasts in Japan in 1945 have shown definite chromosomal abnormalities in certain types of their circulating white blood cells. Indeed, a higher incidence of leukemia (a form of cancer of white cells), as well as other cancers, has been reported in this population, suggesting that the chromosomal changes may have played some role in the induction of the disease (see also radiation: Biologic effects of ionizing radiation).
Viruses have been shown to cause mutations in human cells when the cells are grown in tissue culture, but there is no clear evidence that viral infections can cause genetic injury in humans. Instead, current evidence suggests that the oncogenic viruses implicated in some human cancers facilitate genetic mutations rather than cause them directly.
The induction of DNA mutations in cells by drugs and chemicals is complex. It involves metabolism of the drug by detoxification enzymes into reactive intermediates that damage DNA. The mutations that remain are those not removed by DNA repair enzymes. In contrast to viruses, drugs and chemicals have been shown to cause mutations not only in human cells in culture but also in a living host.
Heredity and environment
Diseases can be spread across a wide spectrum, with predominantly genetic diseases at one extreme of the spectrum and diseases of largely environmental origin at the other. In the genetic part of the spectrum are diseases such as Turner’s syndrome; in the environmental part are infectious diseases and chemical poisoning. Between these two extremes lie most human diseases—those with both genetic and environmental causative influences that are significant. Indeed, even at the very extreme ends of the spectrum both factors play some role. The genetic constitution dictates in part the host’s response to environmental challenges. Similarly, environmental factors play significant roles in the manifestation of genetically induced disease. Sickle cell anemia, for example, an inherited disease characterized by abnormal red blood cells and hemoglobin, is seriously exacerbated by low levels of oxygen in the air.
Furthermore, there are many disorders in which there is a familial tendency to develop the disease but no formal pattern of inheritance has been delineated. Many forms of cancer, high blood pressure, arthritis, and obesity, for example, seem to have a familial tendency. Although the exact roles of environmental and genetic factors are unknown in all these diseases, it is strongly felt that both factors contribute to the disease process.