September 23, 1999
Genetics and Heredity
Question from Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA:
I was diagnosed with MODY diabetes when I was 16 (I am 26 now), although back then it was called type 1 1/2. The relatives that I know for sure have diabetes (there are more out there) are my great-grandmother, grandmother, mother, uncle and younger brother (24). I currently control my sugars with diet, exercise, Glucophage and Glucotrol [pills usually used for Type 2 diabetes].
I have read that MODY is autosomal dominant. Can you explain this term? What are the changes of my children developing MODY? (I don’t have any yet).
Answer:
MODY is transmitted from one generation to the next. Autosomal dominant means that a person with the gene has a 50/50 chance of transmitting the gene to a child. It doesn’t mean one out of two, as some think. Each child has a 50/50 chance. You could have 10 and none get the gene, or 10, and all get the gene.
LD
