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home:pathogenesis:familial_aggregation [06.09.2010] – paulalberthome:pathogenesis:familial_aggregation [07.12.2010] – paulalbert
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 The reigning explanation for familial aggregation is that people pass down faulty genes to their offspring.  However, the theory is not supported by solid evidence.  Scientists have failed to find genes that might cause any major chronic inflammatory disease.  In the case that they have found a relationship between a gene and a disease, statistical significance is usually so low that environmental influences such as bacteria could easily be causing the genetic mutations.  To date, no form of gene therapy has proven effective for treating inflammatory disease. The reigning explanation for familial aggregation is that people pass down faulty genes to their offspring.  However, the theory is not supported by solid evidence.  Scientists have failed to find genes that might cause any major chronic inflammatory disease.  In the case that they have found a relationship between a gene and a disease, statistical significance is usually so low that environmental influences such as bacteria could easily be causing the genetic mutations.  To date, no form of gene therapy has proven effective for treating inflammatory disease.
      
-===== Th1 pathogens are passed among family members =====+===== Families =====
  
 <relatedarticle> [[home:pathogenesis:transmission|Transmission of bacteria and onset of chronic disease]] </article> <relatedarticle> [[home:pathogenesis:transmission|Transmission of bacteria and onset of chronic disease]] </article>
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 The Th1 pathogens gradually mutate genetic pathways and cause disease by a process known as successive infection. The Th1 pathogens gradually mutate genetic pathways and cause disease by a process known as successive infection.
-==== Spouses often have a higher risk of developing the same diseases ====+ 
 +==== Spouses develop the same diseases ====
    
 Several studies have shown that spouses have a greater chance of developing the same disease as their partners - a phenomenon that can best be explained if familial aggregation has an infectious cause.    Several studies have shown that spouses have a greater chance of developing the same disease as their partners - a phenomenon that can best be explained if familial aggregation has an infectious cause.   
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   * **sarcoidosis** – A six-year study of the Th1 disease sarcoidosis, conducted by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Maryland found that among the 215 study participants who had been diagnosed with sarcoidosis, there were five husband-and-wife couples that both had the disease.  Yet sarcoidosis is such a rare disease that, statistically speaking, there should have been none.  This means the incidence of sarcoidosis in spouses in the study was 1,000 greater than could be expected by chance. The researchers also noted that the risk for sarcoidosis increased nearly five-fold in parents and siblings of people with the disease. (({{pubmed>long:17684288}}))   * **sarcoidosis** – A six-year study of the Th1 disease sarcoidosis, conducted by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Maryland found that among the 215 study participants who had been diagnosed with sarcoidosis, there were five husband-and-wife couples that both had the disease.  Yet sarcoidosis is such a rare disease that, statistically speaking, there should have been none.  This means the incidence of sarcoidosis in spouses in the study was 1,000 greater than could be expected by chance. The researchers also noted that the risk for sarcoidosis increased nearly five-fold in parents and siblings of people with the disease. (({{pubmed>long:17684288}}))
   * **hypertension** – Researchers at Queens Medical School in England found that men whose spouses had hypertension had a two-fold increased risk of hypertension. Similarly, women whose spouses had hypertension also doubled their risk of developing the disease. The risk for both male and female subjects persisted after adjustment for other variables such as diet. (({{pubmed>long:9830183}}))   * **hypertension** – Researchers at Queens Medical School in England found that men whose spouses had hypertension had a two-fold increased risk of hypertension. Similarly, women whose spouses had hypertension also doubled their risk of developing the disease. The risk for both male and female subjects persisted after adjustment for other variables such as diet. (({{pubmed>long:9830183}}))
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 ==== Family members develop the same diseases ==== ==== Family members develop the same diseases ====
  
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 When one considers how often chronic diseases co-occur within a family unit – heart disease, arthritis, bipolar disorder, breast cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, Alzheimer’s disease – it becomes increasingly plausible that nearly all inflammatory diseases are communicable and that this communicability results in familial aggregation. When one considers how often chronic diseases co-occur within a family unit – heart disease, arthritis, bipolar disorder, breast cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, Alzheimer’s disease – it becomes increasingly plausible that nearly all inflammatory diseases are communicable and that this communicability results in familial aggregation.
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 ===== Non-relations in close proximity develop the same diseases ===== ===== Non-relations in close proximity develop the same diseases =====
  
 As would be expected for the Th1 diseases, which are [[home:pathogenesis:transmission|transmitted via proximity and contact]], even people who are not related pass diseases to each other. As would be expected for the Th1 diseases, which are [[home:pathogenesis:transmission|transmitted via proximity and contact]], even people who are not related pass diseases to each other.
  
 +  * **Alzheimer's** – A subject whose spouse experienced incident dementia onset had a [[http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/05/dementia-caregiver-risk/|six times greater risk]] for incident dementia as subjects whose spouses were dementia free.((Norton MC, Smith KR, Øÿstbye T, Tschanz JT, Corcoran C, Schwartz S, et al. [[http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/123421692/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0|Greater Risk of Dementia When Spouse Has Dementia? The Cache County Study]]. //Journal of the American Geriatrics Society//. 2010;58(5):895-900.))
   * **multiple sclerosis** – Multiple sclerosis occurred in epidemic form in various North Atlantic islands: probably in Iceland and the Shetland-Orkneys; clearly in the Faroe Islands. In the Faroes first symptom onset was in 1943, heralding the first of four successive epidemics at 13 year intervals. The disease was presumably introduced by occupying British troops during World War II, with the postwar occurrences representing later transmissions to and from consecutive cohorts of Faroese.(({{pubmed>long:10871801}}))   * **multiple sclerosis** – Multiple sclerosis occurred in epidemic form in various North Atlantic islands: probably in Iceland and the Shetland-Orkneys; clearly in the Faroe Islands. In the Faroes first symptom onset was in 1943, heralding the first of four successive epidemics at 13 year intervals. The disease was presumably introduced by occupying British troops during World War II, with the postwar occurrences representing later transmissions to and from consecutive cohorts of Faroese.(({{pubmed>long:10871801}}))
   * **obesity** – Research suggests that obesity is also an inflammatory disease caused by certain species of the Th1 pathogens.  A study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that a person’s risk of becoming obese increases by 57% if they have a friend who becomes obese, and by 37% if their spouse becomes obese. (({{pubmed>long:17652652}})) The researchers attributed the results to social factors, but the spread of bacteria is a more logical explanation.   * **obesity** – Research suggests that obesity is also an inflammatory disease caused by certain species of the Th1 pathogens.  A study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that a person’s risk of becoming obese increases by 57% if they have a friend who becomes obese, and by 37% if their spouse becomes obese. (({{pubmed>long:17652652}})) The researchers attributed the results to social factors, but the spread of bacteria is a more logical explanation.
home/pathogenesis/familial_aggregation.txt · Last modified: 09.14.2022 by 127.0.0.1
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