We conducted a study of the association between developmental reading disability (DRD) and immune disorders (ID) using both survey and immunoassay data in two separate samples of families. One sample was made up of twins and their parents and was ascertained through a population-based sampling scheme. The other sample was a set of extended pedigrees selected for apparent autosomal dominant transmission of DRD. We failed to find an association between DRD and ID in either sample, regardless of the method used to assess immune system function. Even though our twin sample provided evidence that both DRD and immune conditions were significantly heritable, there was no evidence for a genetic correlation between ID and DRD nor was there any clear indication that a special subgroup of individuals may be comorbid for these conditions because of genetic reasons. How these negative findings can be reconciled with the developmental hypothesis of Geschwind, Behan, Galaburda, and colleagues, and how they may relate to the gene locus influencing DRD that has been recently located in the HLA region of the short arm of chromosome 6 is discussed.
Copyright 1998 Academic Press.