A test of the hypothesis that age at onset in Huntington disease is controlled by an X-linked recessive modifier.

Data from the Research Roster for Huntington Disease Patients and Families were used to assess the hypothesis that juvenile onset in Huntington disease is determined by an X-linked recessive modifying gene in the affected parent. The observed proportion of affected fathers to affected mothers who had such offspring was not compatible with this hypothesis. Furthermore, neither the excess of affected grandfathers nor the existence of juvenile-onset and adult-onset cases within a sibship would be predicted by this model. We also rejected a more general hypothesis that a major change in gene expression across generations, measured by the presence of juvenile onset and/or major anticipation, is determined by an X-linked modifier. However, the inheritance of a propensity toward juvenile onset via the affected male line could be due to an abnormal pattern of paternal genomic imprinting.