Is Alport syndrome inherited ?
How is Alport syndrome inherited? Alport syndrome can have different inheritance patterns. About 80 percent of cases are caused by mutations in the COL4A5 gene and are inherited in an X-linked recessive pattern. This gene is located on the X chromosome, which is one of the two sex chromosomes. In males (who have only one X chromosome), one altered copy of the COL4A5 gene in each cell is sufficient to cause kidney failure and other severe symptoms of the disorder. In females (who have two X chromosomes), a mutation in only one copy of the COL4A5 gene usually only results in hematuria, but some women experience more severe symptoms. A characteristic of X-linked inheritance is that fathers cannot pass X-linked traits to their sons.