Genetics of cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy (CP) has been defined as a group of disorders of the development of movement and posture, causing activity limitation, that are attributed to nonprogressive disturbances that occurred in the developing fetus or infant. It is the most prevalent chronic childhood motor disability and is one of the most disabling and costly chronic disorder of children and adults. Prenatal risk factors have been identified in 70-80% of term infants who develop CP, with intrapartum complications such as asphyxia, infections or trauma playing a role only in 10-20% of these infants. There are multiple lines of evidence that strongly point toward genetic factors in CP. This would include familial data, specific identified genetic factors, twin studies, parental age studies, and the high rate of occurrence of multiple minor dysmorphic features in the CP population. Like most medical conditions, CP exhibit complex inheritance. The best model of the inheritance of cerebral palsy is "multi factorial inheritance". This model implies etiologic and genetic heterogeneity with complex interactions with environmental influences. A summary of major categories of prenatal/genetic etiologies in CP would include (1) prematurity (2) primary genetic disorders and syndromes (3) inborn error of metabolism (4) heritable thrombophilias and (5) cerebral dysgenesis and teratogenic influences. In this article we will have a brief discussion of the known genetic influences on the origin of cerebral palsy.