Birth order pattern in the inheritance of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and related lymphoproliferative disease

Viggo Jønsson, Geir Tjønnfjord, Sven Ove Samuelsen, Tom Johannesen, Jørgen Olsen, Gabrielle Sellick, Richard Houlston, Martin Yuille, Daniel Catovsky

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Rank order of affected offspring in a sibship can inform on epigenetic factors in disease susceptibility. Here we report an analysis of birth order in 32 families segregating chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and other B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders. A paternal-offspring, but not a maternal-offspring birth rank order was observed. Cox regression analysis provided relative risks (RR) for paternal and maternal transmission of 3.60 (CI 95%: 1.54-8.42; P=0.0005) and 1.64 (CI 95%: 0.90-3.01; P=0.096), respectively. The significance of paternal and maternal transmission of CLL-CLL pairs employing Haldane and Smith's test were 0.006 and 0.63, respectively. There was no evidence of a relationship between parental age and birth order. The genetic mechanism behind the birth order effect observed is discussed in the light of non-Mendelian imprinting and pregnancy related microchimerism.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)2387-2396
    Number of pages9
    JournalLeukemia and Lymphoma
    Volume48
    Issue number12
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Dec 2007

    Keywords

    • Birth-order effect
    • Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia
    • Imprinting
    • Lymphoproliferative disorders
    • Microchimerism
    • Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

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