OBJECTIVES Infantile spasms (IS) are severe epileptic encephalopathy during infancy. The SCN1A encodes the α1 subunit of the neuronal voltage-gated sodium channels, and mutations in SCN1A have been frequently detected in idiopathic epilepsy and encephalopathy, which had similar symptoms as IS. Therefore, we investigated the association of SCN1A polymorphism with the IS and the responsiveness to...

BACKGROUND Dravet syndrome, a rare genetic disorder with early-onset epileptic encephalopathy, was first described by Dravet in 1978. Dravet syndrome is most frequently caused by various mutations of the SCN1A gene encoding the type 1 subunit of the neuronal voltage-gated sodium channel. CASE PRESENTATION Two sisters of a non-consanguineous Palestinian family from the Arab community in Israel...

De novo loss-of-function mutations in the voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) SCN1A (encoding Nav1.1) are the main cause of Dravet syndrome (DS), a catastrophic early-life encephalopathy associated with prolonged and recurrent early-life febrile seizures (FSs), refractory afebrile epilepsy, cognitive and behavioral deficits, and a 15-20% mortality rate. SCN1A mutations also lead to genetic epil...

OBJECTIVE S From a genetic point of view, epilepsy is a polygenic multifactorial syndrome. The SCN1A and B genes belong to a family of genes that provide instructions for making sodium channels. Understanding the relevance of SCN1A and SCN1B gene polymorphisms to plasma concentration of carbamazepine (CBZ) and 'its active metabolite carbamazepine 10, 11 epoxide (CBZE), may shed more light on in...

OBJECTIVE: De novo mutations of the gene sodium channel 1a (SCN1A) are the major cause of Dravet syndrome, an infantile epileptic encephalopathy. US incidence of DS has been estimated at 1 in 40 000, but no US epidemiologic studies have been performed since the advent of genetic testing. METHODS: In a retrospective, population-based cohort of all infants born at Kaiser Permanente Northern Calif...

Generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+) is an inherited epileptic syndrome with a marked clinical and genetic heterogeneity. Here we report the molecular characterization of a large pedigree with a severe clinical form of GEFS+. Genetic linkage analysis implied the involvement of the FEB3 in the disease phenotype of this family (parametric two-point lod-score of 2.2). Sequencing...

Dravet syndrome is caused by mutations of the SCN1A gene that encodes voltage-gated sodium channel alpha-1 subunit. SCN1A-knock-in mouse with a disease-relevant nonsense mutation that we generated reproduced the disease phenotypes. Both homozygous and heterozygous knock-in mice developed epileptic seizures within the fi rst postnatal month. Our immunohistochemical studies showed that in wild-ty...

Till now truncation mutations of voltage-gated sodium channel alpha subunit type I (SCN1A) gene were mostly found in severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy (SMEI) patients. In this research we first identified two novel de novo truncation mutations (S662X and M145fx148) in two patients whose phenotypes were quite milder compared with SMEI patients. One patient was diagnosed as generalized epileps...

Hundreds of mutations in the SCN1A sodium channel gene confer a wide spectrum of epileptic disorders, requiring efficient model systems to study cellular mechanisms and identify potential therapeutic targets. We recently demonstrated that Drosophila knock-in flies carrying the K1270T SCN1A mutation known to cause a form of genetic epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+) exhibit a heat-induc...

PURPOSE Despite the advances in the pharmacological treatment of epilepsy, pharmacoresistance still remains challenging. Understanding of the pharmacogenetic causes is critical to predict drug response hence providing a basis for personalized medications. Genetic alteration in activity of drug target and drug metabolizing proteins could explain the development of pharmacoresistant epilepsy. So ...