Molecular diagnosis of patients with epilepsy and developmental delay using a customized panel of epilepsy genes

PLoS One. 2017 Nov 30;12(11):e0188978. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188978. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Pediatric epilepsies are a group of disorders with a broad phenotypic spectrum that are associated with great genetic heterogeneity, thus making sequential single-gene testing an impractical basis for diagnostic strategy. The advent of next-generation sequencing has increased the success rate of epilepsy diagnosis, and targeted resequencing using genetic panels is the a most cost-effective choice. We report the results found in a group of 87 patients with epilepsy and developmental delay using targeted next generation sequencing (custom-designed Haloplex panel). Using this gene panel, we were able to identify disease-causing variants in 17 out of 87 (19.5%) analyzed patients, all found in known epilepsy-associated genes (KCNQ2, CDKL5, STXBP1, SCN1A, PCDH19, POLG, SLC2A1, ARX, ALG13, CHD2, SYNGAP1, and GRIN1). Twelve of 18 variants arose de novo and 6 were novel. The highest yield was found in patients with onset in the first years of life, especially in patients classified as having early-onset epileptic encephalopathy. Knowledge of the underlying genetic cause provides essential information on prognosis and could be used to avoid unnecessary studies, which may result in a greater diagnostic cost-effectiveness.

MeSH terms

  • Child, Preschool
  • Developmental Disabilities / diagnosis*
  • Developmental Disabilities / genetics
  • Epilepsy / diagnosis*
  • Epilepsy / genetics
  • Female
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease*
  • Humans
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Male

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (SAF2010-18586 and SAF2013-48960-P) to GSM, LOM (www.mineco.gob.es); Fundación Conchita Rábago de Jiménez Díaz (www.fundacionconchitarabago.net) to LOM and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Raras (www.ciberer.es) to RGL. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.