Gene-environment interactions in rare diseases that include common birth defects.
Rare syndromes often feature specific types of birth defects that frequently are major diagnostic clues to the presence of a given disorder. Despite this specificity, not everyone with the same syndrome is equally or comparably affected, and not everyone with a specific birth defect manifests the same syndrome or is affected with all the features of a particular syndrome. A symposium sponsored by the National Institutes of Health Office of Rare Diseases, and the National Toxicology Program Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction attempted to explore how much of this variability is due to genetic factors and how much is due to environmental factors. The specific types of birth defects examined included cardiovascular defects, holoprosencephaly, clefts of the lip and/or palate, neural tube defects, and diaphragmatic hernias.
Graham
John M
JM
Medical Genetics Institute, Steven Spielberg Pediatric Research Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA. john.graham@cshs.org
Shaw
Gary M
GM
D000014:Abnormalities, Drug-Induced / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000187:drug effects; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D009316:National Institutes of Health (U.S.); D035583:Rare Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D013577:Syndrome; D013723:Teratogens / Q000633:toxicity*; D014481:United States
D013723:Teratogens