Genetically determined epilepsy with encephalopathy can develop early in life, often with prenatal onset, which makes diagnosis difficult. New molecular screening studies have identified causative mutations in patients with early-onset epilepsy with encephalopathy. What can we learn from the results of genetic screening in patients with this disorder?
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Mefford, H. C. et al. Rare copy number variants are an important cause of epileptic encephalopathies. Ann. Neurol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ana.22645.
Weckhuysen, S. et al. KCNQ2 encephalopathy: Emerging phenotype of a neonatal epileptic encephalopathy. Ann. Neurol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ana.22644.
Depienne, C. et al. Sporadic infantile epileptic encephalopathy caused by mutations in PCDH19 resembles Dravet syndrome but mainly affects females. PLoS Genet. 5, e1000381 (2009).
Saitsu, H. et al. De novo mutations in the gene encoding STXBP1 (MUNC18–11) cause early infantile epileptic encephalopathy. Nat. Genet. 40, 782–788 (2008).
Milh, M. et al. Epileptic and nonepileptic features in patients with early onset epileptic encephalopathy and STXBP1 mutations. Epilepsia 52, 1828–1834 (2011).
Milh, M. et al. Transient brain magnetic resonance imaging hyperintensity in basal ganglia and brain stem of epileptic infants treated with vigabatrin. J. Child Neurol. 24, 305–315 (2009).
Khazipov, R., Tyzio, R. & Ben-Ari, Y. Effects of oxytocin on GABA signalling in the foetal brain during delivery. Prog. Brain Res. 170, 243–257 (2008).
Marini, C., Mei, D., Helen Cross, J. & Guerrini, R. Mosaic SCN1A mutation in familial severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy. Epilepsia. 47, 1737–1740 (2006).
Borgatti, R. et al. A novel mutation in KCNQ2 associated with BFNC, drug resistant epilepsy, and mental retardation. Neurology 63, 57–65 (2004).
Scheffer, I. E. Does genotype determine phenotype? Sodium channel mutations in Dravet syndrome and GEFS+. Neurology 76, 588–589 (2011).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nabbout, R., Dulac, O. Genetics of early-onset epilepsy with encephalopathy. Nat Rev Neurol 8, 129–130 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2012.12
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2012.12
This article is cited by
-
Treatment of Epileptic Encephalopathies
CNS Drugs (2013)