Search results for " EPILEPSY"
showing 10 items of 152 documents
Alternating Hemiplegia of Childhood: neurological comorbidities and intrafamilial variability.
2022
Abstract Background Alternating of Childhood (AHC) is an uncommon and complex disorder characterized by age of onset before 18 months with recurrent hemiplegia of one or either sides of the body or quadriplegia. The disorder is mainly caused by mutations in ATP1A3 gene, and to a lesser extent in ATP1A2 gene. In AHC neurological co-morbidities are various and frequently reported including developmental delay, epilepsy, tonic or dystonic spells, nystagmus,autonomic manifestations with intrafamilial variability. Case presentation Clinical and genetic findings of a couple of twins (Family 1: Case 1 and Case 2) and a couple of siblings (Family 2: Case 3 and Case 4) coming from two different Ital…
Benign familial infantile epilepsy associated with KCNQ3 mutation: a rare occurrence or an underestimated event?
2020
Abstract Benign familial infantile epilepsy (BFIE) is the most genetically heterogeneous phenotype among early-onset familial infantile epilepsies. It has an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern with incomplete penetrance. Although PRRT2 is the most mutated gene detected in families with BFIE, other mutations in KCNQ2, SCN2A, and GABRA6 genes have also been described. To date, KCNQ3 mutations have been detected in only four patients with BFIE. Here, we describe the clinical pattern and course of an additional individual with BFIE associated with a novel missense heterozygous KCNQ3 c.1850G>C variant inherited by his unaffected father. The incidence of KCNQ3 mutations among BFIE patients…
A novel mutation in KCNQ3-related benign familial neonatal epilepsy: electroclinical features and neurodevelopmental outcome.
2019
Benign familial neonatal epilepsy (BFNE) is caused, in about 5% of families, by mutations in the KCNQ3 gene encoding voltage-gated potassium channel subunits. Usually, newborns with BFNE show a normal neurological outcome, but recently, refractory seizures and/or developmental disability have been reported suggesting phenotype variability associated with KCNQ3-related BFNE. Here, we describe a proband from a BFNE family carrying a novel variant in the KCNQ3 gene. Regarding the paucity of data in the literature, we describe the presented case with a view to further establishing: (1) a genotype/phenotype correlation in order to define a BFNE phenotype associated with favourable outcome; (2) a…
A novel KCNQ3 mutation in familial epilepsy with focal seizures and intellectual disability
2015
Mutations in the KCNQ2 gene encoding for voltage-gated potassium channel subunits have been found in patients affected with early onset epilepsies with wide phenotypic heterogeneity, ranging from benign familial neonatal seizures (BFNS) to epileptic encephalopathy with cognitive impairment, drug resistance, and characteristic electroencephalography (EEG) and neuroradiologic features. By contrast, only few KCNQ3 mutations have been rarely described, mostly in patients with typical BFNS. We report clinical, genetic, and functional data from a family in which early onset epilepsy and neurocognitive deficits segregated with a novel mutation in KCNQ3 (c.989G>T; p.R330L). Electrophysiological stu…
Mutations in the Neuronal Vesicular SNARE VAMP2 Affect Synaptic Membrane Fusion and Impair Human Neurodevelopment
2019
VAMP2 encodes the vesicular SNARE protein VAMP2 (also called synaptobrevin-2). Together with its partners syntaxin-1A and synaptosomal-associated protein 25 (SNAP25), VAMP2 mediates fusion of synaptic vesicles to release neurotransmitters. VAMP2 is essential for vesicular exocytosis and activity-dependent neurotransmitter release. Here, we report five heterozygous de novo mutations in VAMP2 in unrelated individuals presenting with a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by axial hypotonia (which had been present since birth), intellectual disability, and autistic features. In total, we identified two single-amino-acid deletions and three non-synonymous variants affecting conserved resid…
TBC1D24-TLDc-related epilepsy exercise-induced dystonia: rescue by antioxidants in a disease model
2019
Genetic mutations in TBC1D24 have been associated with multiple phenotypes, with epilepsy being the main clinical manifestation. The TBC1D24 protein consists of the unique association of a Tre2/Bub2/Cdc16 (TBC) domain and a TBC/lysin motif domain/catalytic (TLDc) domain. More than 50 missense and loss-of-function mutations have been described and are spread over the entire protein. Through whole genome/exome sequencing we identified compound heterozygous mutations, R360H and G501R, within the TLDc domain, in an index family with a Rolandic epilepsy exercise-induced dystonia phenotype (http://omim.org/entry/608105). A 20-year long clinical follow-up revealed that epilepsy was self-limited in…
Clinical Significance of Rare Copy Number Variations in Epilepsy A Case-Control Survey Using Microarray-Based Comparative Genomic Hybridization
2012
Objective To perform an extensive search for genomic rearrangements by microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization in patients with epilepsy. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Epilepsy centers in Italy. Patients Two hundred seventy-nine patients with unexplained epilepsy, 265 individuals with nonsyndromic mental retardation but no epilepsy, and 246 healthy control subjects were screened by microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization. Main Outcomes Measures Identification of copy number variations (CNVs) and gene enrichment. Results Rare CNVs occurred in 26 patients (9.3%) and 16 healthy control subjects (6.5%) (P = .26). The CNVs identified in patients were larger (P = …
Modulatory effects of nitric oxide-active drugs on the anticonvulsant activity of lamotrigine in an experimental model of partial complex epilepsy in…
2007
Abstract Background The effects induced by administering the anticonvulsant lamotrigine, the preferential inhibitor of neuronal nitric oxide synthase 7-nitroindazole and the precursor of NO synthesis L-arginine, alone or in combination, on an experimental model of partial complex seizures (maximal dentate gyrus activation) were studied in urethane anaesthetized rats. The epileptic activity of the dentate gyrus was obtained through the repetitive stimulation of the angular bundle and maximal dentate gyrus activation latency, duration and post-stimulus afterdischarge duration were evaluated. Results Either Lamotrigine (10 mg kg-1) or 7-nitroindazole (75 mg kg-1) i.p. administration had an ant…
Rufinamide in children and adults with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome: first Italian multicenter experience
2010
This is the first multicenter Italian experience with rufinamide as an adjunctive drug in children, adolescents and adults with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. The patients were enrolled in a prospective, add-on, open-label treatment study from 11 Italian centers for children and adolescent epilepsy care. Forty-three patients (26 males, 17 females), aged between 4 and 34 years (mean 15.9 ± 7.3, median 15.0), were treated with rufinamide for a mean period of 12.3 months (range 3-21 months). Twenty patients were diagnosed as cryptogenic and 23 as symptomatic. Rufinamide was added to the baseline therapy at the starting dose of 10mg/kg body weight, evenly divided in two daily doses and then increased…
Benign myoclonic epilepsy in infancy: neuropsychological and behavioural outcome
2003
Benign myoclonic epilepsy in infancy (BMEI) is a rare syndrome of idiopathic generalized epilepsies with onset below 3 years of age. It has been reported that BMEI is associated with a good prognosis, however, recently some studies suggest less favourable neuropsychological outcome. We report a long-term follow-up of seven patients with BMEI. Seizure outcome and neuropsychological, cognitive, and behavioural evolution were discussed for each of them. At the end of follow-up, 86% of children showed neuropsychological and intellectual disorders: two children had mental retardation, three patients achieved a borderline IQ and one normal but low IQ. All but one displayed neuropsychological disa…