Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is a genetic disease characterized by recurrent short episodes of fever, accompanied by peritonitis, pleuritis, or arthritis. The disease is almost completely ethnically restricted to patients of Mediterranean descent--Sephardic Jews, Armenians, Anatolian Turks, and Arabs. Although many family studies have been performed, no twin study has been reported as yet. We studied 21 di- and monozygotic twin sets, identified among the 1,943 FMF patients in our registry. Full concordance was observed in all the 10 monozygotic twin sets. In the 11 dizygotic twins, concordance for FMF disease was found in only 3 pairs. Variability in the clinical manifestations and degree of severity have been noted within twins. These findings provide definitive evidence for the genetic cause of FMF. They also support the single gene autosomal recessive model, and provide support for the contention that the lower observed than expected incidence found in FMF is due to genetically affected but clinically undiagnosed patients.
[1]
J. Rotter,et al.
Familial Mediterranean fever in Armenians: autosomal recessive inheritance with high gene frequency.
,
1989,
American journal of medical genetics.
[2]
Swee Lay Thein,et al.
Hypervariable ‘minisatellite’ regions in human DNA
,
1985,
Nature.
[3]
R. S. Peters,et al.
FAMILIAL MEDITERRANEAN FEVER IN ARMENIANS. ANALYSIS OF 100 CASES
,
1974,
Medicine.
[4]
E. Sohar,et al.
FAMILIAL MEDITERRANEAN FEVER
,
1959,
Definitions.
[5]
E. Sohar,et al.
Genetics of Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF): A Disorder with Recessive Inheritance in Non-Ashkenazi Jews and Armenians
,
1961
.
[6]
E. Sohar,et al.
Amyloidosis in familial Mediterranean fever. An independent genetically determined character.
,
1961,
Archives of internal medicine.
[7]
E. Sohar,et al.
Familial Mediterranean fever.
,
1958,
A.M.A. archives of internal medicine.
[8]
S. Siegal.
Benign paroxysmal peritonitis.
,
1945,
Gastroenterology.