Linked Life Data

17689877

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/17689877

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
6
pubmed:dateCreated
2007-10-30
pubmed:abstractText
Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that, unlike most autosomal dominant disorders, is not being selected against. One explanation for the maintenance of the mutant HD allele is that it is transparent to natural selection because disease symptoms typically occur subsequent to an individual's peak reproductive years. While true, this observation does not explain the population-level increase in HD. The increase in HD is at least partly the result of enhanced fitness: HD+ individuals have more offspring than unaffected relatives. This phenomenon has previously been explained as the result of elevated promiscuity of HD+ individuals. For this to be true, disease symptoms must be expressed during the otherwise asymptomatic peak reproductive years and promiscuity must increase offspring production; however, neither prediction is supported by data. Instead, new data suggest that the mutant HD allele bestows health benefits on its carriers. HD+ individuals show elevated levels of the tumor suppressor protein p53 and experience significantly less cancer than unaffected siblings. We hypothesize that the mutant HD allele elevates carriers' immune activity and thus HD+ individuals are, on average, healthier than HD- individuals during reproductive years. As health and reproductive output are positively related, data suggest a counterintuitive relationship: health benefits may lead to an increased prevalence of Huntington's disease.
pubmed:commentsCorrections
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:issn
0306-9877
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
69
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
1183-9
pubmed:dateRevised
2009-11-19
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2007
pubmed:articleTitle
A Darwinian approach to Huntington's disease: subtle health benefits of a neurological disorder.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Biology, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article