Treatment Options For Cockayne Syndrome

Genetic Counselling

Cockayne syndrome is inherited in an autosomal recessive fashion, meaning one mutated gene comes from each parent of a patient with the disorder. The parents of an affected individual each carry at least one of the mutated genes that cause Cockayne syndrome. A carrier is a person who can pass the mutation to their offspring but does not have any symptoms of the disorder themselves. The child of two carrier parents has a one in four chance of inheriting a defective gene from each parent and developing symptoms of the disorder. The child of two carrier parents has a one in two chance of inheriting an abnormal gene from one parent and a normal gene from the other, making them only a carrier of the disorder. The child of two carrier parents also has a one in four chance of inheriting no abnormal genes and not being a carrier of the disorder. Genetic counseling is a type of counseling that helps the parents of a patient understand the risks of future pregnancies.