If Cystic Fibrosis Runs in the Family, What Are the Odds My Child Will Have It?
Saturday, March 27th, 2010 at
5:35 pm
precious jewel asked:
my sister has cystic fibrosis and i am contemplating having children of my own. my mate recalls having a cousin with the disease. What is the risk that one or more of my children will have cystic fibrosis, or is there any way to know for certain?
Tagged with: Cousin • Cystic Fibrosis • Recalls
Filed under: Cystic Fibrosis
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
I would talk with a geneticist about the problem, they will be able to tell you the risks and tests can determine how great the risks are for this and any other potential problems.If I were to give you my opinion,it would just be an opinion and this is to serious to take chances on even doing research wont give you answers that a professional can.
Absolutely you should speak with a genetics counselor and consider both you and your mate being tested to determine if either or both of you carry a CF gene mutation. With CF in both family histories, your chances of both being carriers are higher than the general population. It will be helpful to know the specific mutations that your sister and your mate’s cousin carry as that will make carrier testing more definitive for each of you.
Since your sister has CF, both of your parents carry a CF mutation. This will be true in all but the rarest of circumstances and assuming both you and your sister have the same biological parents. If you do not have CF, than you received a normal (called wild type)gene from at least one parent and possibly from both parents. The possibilities are 2 out of 3 that you are a carrier of a CF mutation and can pass that on to a child. There is a 1 out of 3 chance that you did not get a CF mutation of the gene from either parent, in which case, there would be virtually zero chance of you having a child with CF. See below for the possible combinations that apply to you:
Dad’s normal copy / Mom’s normal copy which means you are not a carrier of the CF mutation.
Dad’s normal copy / Mom’s CF mutation which means you are a carrier of the CF mutation
Dad’s CF mutation / Mom’s normal copy which means you are a carrier of the CF mutation.
As to your mate: having a cousin with CF means there is a 25% chance that he is a carrier. IF you both are carriers, you will be in the same situation as your parents and there would be a 1 in 4 chance with each pregnancy that the child would have CF.
I hope your sister is doing well.
you need to find out if you carry the gene then if you do your partner would have to have the gene for you children to have cf. It comes from both parents.
If your sister has cystic fibrosis, there is a 50/50 chance that you are a carrier. The same goes for your mate. You can not use this statistic as an accurate model for prediction, however.
The only way to know for sure is through genetic testing for you and your mate. Most blood labs now offer a basic level of CF screening or your doctor could contact Ambry Genetics. See for more information and contact numbers.