A polygenetic disease is under the influence of multiple genes, but not a single gene. Usually this means that a disease does not have a high level of genetic causes (i.e. is not a genetic disease), and is not strongly inherited down families, but there may be a slight familial inheritance pattern. In fact, saying a disease is polygenic is almost like saying it is "mostly non-genetic". Many of the big name diseases are in this class of diseases including cancers, heart disease, autoimmune diseases, and many others. With most of these conditions, they are not regarded as being caused by genetics, nor are they directly inherited from parents. However, a family history of the disease is a risk factor for the disease, indicating that there is some inherited risk in the genes (though shared environmental risk factors is also a possibility in some cases). The genetics of this type of disease is an area of current research for all of the major diseases. See also Introduction to Polygenic Diseases and also diseases with a family history risk factor. ...more »
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An inherited disease controlled by several genes at once - (Source - WordNet 2.1)
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