Article

SCN2A mutations and benign familial neonatal-infantile seizures: the phenotypic spectrum.

Department of Woman and Child Health, Astrid Lindgren's Children's Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Epilepsia (impact factor: 3.96). 07/2007; 48(6):1138-42. DOI:10.1111/j.1528-1167.2007.01049.x
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT Mutations of the sodium channel subunit gene SCN2A have been described in families with benign familial neonatal-infantile seizure (BFNIS). We describe two large families with BFNIS and novel SCN2A mutations. The families had 12 and 9 affected individuals, respectively, with phenotypes consistent with BFNIS. Two mutations were discovered in SCN2A (E430Q; I1596S). Both families had individuals with neonatal onset but the typical age of onset was in the early infantile period (mean 3.0 months). One mutation positive individual, with an otherwise typical clinical pattern, had seizures beginning at 13 months. Two individuals with SCN2A mutations were identified with seizures in later life. In each family a single individual with infantile seizures was mutation negative and thus represented phenocopies. This study extends the age range of presentation of BFNIS, confirms that neonatal and early infantile onsets are characteristic, and emphasizes the role of molecular diagnosis to confirm the etiology.

0 0
 · 
1 Bookmark
 · 
95 Views
  • Source
    Article: Missense mutation of the sodium channel gene SCN2A causes Dravet syndrome.
    Xiuyu Shi, Sawa Yasumoto, Eiji Nakagawa, Tatsuya Fukasawa, Satoshi Uchiya, Shinichi Hirose
    [show abstract] [hide abstract]
    ABSTRACT: Mutations of the gene encoding the alpha2 subunit of the neuronal sodium channel, SCN2A, have been found in benign familial neonatal-infantile seizures (BFNIS). In Dravet syndrome, only one nonsense mutation of SCN2A was identified, while hundreds of mutations were found in the paralogue gene, SCN1A, which encodes the alpha1 subunit. This study examines whether SCN2A mutations are associated with Dravet syndrome. We screened for mutations of SCN1A, SCN2A and GABRG2 (the gene encoding gamma2 subunit of the GABA(A) receptor) in 59 patients with Dravet syndrome and found 29 SCN1A mutations and three missense SCN2A mutations. Among the three, one de novo SCN2A mutation (c.3935G>C: R1312T) identified in a patient was thought to affect an arginine residue in a voltage sensor of the channel and hence, to be pathogenic. This finding suggests that both nonsense mutations and missense SCN2A mutations cause Dravet syndrome.
    Brain & development 09/2009; 31(10):758-62. · 1.74 Impact Factor
  • Source
    Article: A role of SCN9A in human epilepsies, as a cause of febrile seizures and as a potential modifier of Dravet syndrome.
    Nanda A Singh, Chris Pappas, E Jill Dahle, Lieve R F Claes, Timothy H Pruess, Peter De Jonghe, Joel Thompson, Missy Dixon, Christina Gurnett, Andy Peiffer, H Steve White, Francis Filloux, Mark F Leppert
    [show abstract] [hide abstract]
    ABSTRACT: A follow-up study of a large Utah family with significant linkage to chromosome 2q24 led us to identify a new febrile seizure (FS) gene, SCN9A encoding Na(v)1.7. In 21 affected members, we uncovered a potential mutation in a highly conserved amino acid, p.N641Y, in the large cytoplasmic loop between transmembrane domains I and II that was absent from 586 ethnically matched population control chromosomes. To establish a functional role for this mutation in seizure susceptibility, we introduced the orthologous mutation into the murine Scn9a ortholog using targeted homologous recombination. Compared to wild-type mice, homozygous Scn9a(N641Y/N641Y) knockin mice exhibit significantly reduced thresholds to electrically induced clonic and tonic-clonic seizures, and increased corneal kindling acquisition rates. Together, these data strongly support the SCN9A p.N641Y mutation as disease-causing in this family. To confirm the role of SCN9A in FS, we analyzed a collection of 92 unrelated FS patients and identified additional highly conserved Na(v)1.7 missense variants in 5% of the patients. After one of these children with FS later developed Dravet syndrome (severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy), we sequenced the SCN1A gene, a gene known to be associated with Dravet syndrome, and identified a heterozygous frameshift mutation. Subsequent analysis of 109 Dravet syndrome patients yielded nine Na(v)1.7 missense variants (8% of the patients), all in highly conserved amino acids. Six of these Dravet syndrome patients with SCN9A missense variants also harbored either missense or splice site SCN1A mutations and three had no SCN1A mutations. This study provides evidence for a role of SCN9A in human epilepsies, both as a cause of FS and as a partner with SCN1A mutations.
    PLoS Genetics 09/2009; 5(9):e1000649. · 8.69 Impact Factor
  • Source
    Article: Clinical spectrum of SCN2A mutations.
    Xiuyu Shi, Sawa Yasumoto, Hirokazu Kurahashi, Eiji Nakagawa, Tatsuya Fukasawa, Satoshi Uchiya, Shinichi Hirose
    [show abstract] [hide abstract]
    ABSTRACT: Mutations in SCN2A, the gene encoding α2 subunit of the neuronal sodium channel, are associated with a variety of epilepsies: benign familial neonatal-infantile seizures (BFNIS); genetic epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+); Dravet syndrome (DS); and some intractable childhood epilepsies. More than 10 new mutations have been identified in BFNIS, all of them are missense. To date, only one nonsense mutation has been found in a patient with intractable childhood epilepsy and severe mental decline. Recently, microduplication of chromosome 2q24.3 (containing eight genes including SCN2A, SCN3A, and the 3' end of SCN1A) was reported in a family with dominantly inherited neonatal seizures and intellectual disability. Functional studies of SCN2A mutations show that they can cause divergent biophysical defects in Na(V)1.2 and impair cell surface expressions. There is no consistent relationship between genotype and phenotype.
    Brain & development 10/2011; 34(7):541-5. · 1.74 Impact Factor

Show more

Data provided are for informational purposes only. Although carefully collected, accuracy cannot be guaranteed. The impact factor represents a rough estimation of the journal's impact factor and does not reflect the actual current impact factor. Publisher conditions are provided by RoMEO. Differing provisions from the publisher's actual policy or licence agreement may be applicable.

Keywords

age range
 
benign familial neonatal-infantile seizure
 
BFNIS
 
families
 
infantile onsets
 
infantile period
 
infantile seizures
 
large families
 
mutation positive individual
 
mutations
 
neonatal
 
neonatal onset
 
novel SCN2A mutations
 
phenotypes consistent
 
SCN2A
 
SCN2A mutations
 
seizures
 
sodium channel subunit gene SCN2A
 
typical age
 
typical clinical pattern