Salt matters – SIK1 in epileptic encephalopathies

Inducible. Next generation sequencing technologies have the tremendous potential to identify disease-causing genes in a hypothesis-free manner. In a recent publication in the American Journal of Human Genetics, mutations in the gene for the salt-inducible kinase 1 (SIK1) are found in patients with early onset epileptic encephalopathy. In addition to a previously unknown functional network related to intracellular salt in the CNS, the authors demonstrate a peculiar mutational mechanism – activating truncation mutations. Continue reading

The microdeletion landscape of Genetic Generalized Epilepsy

CNV. Structural genomic variations or Copy Number Variations (CNVs) significantly contribute to the genetic architecture of many neurodevelopmental disorders. However, given the enormous variation in the human genome in healthy individuals, the precise contribution of CNVs remains poorly understood. In a recent publication in PLOS Genetics, we were able to assess the microdeletion architecture in more than 1,000 patients with Genetic Generalized Epilepsy (GGE) compared to more than 5,000 controls. We found that microdeletions occur almost twice as often in GGE patients compared to controls, an analysis that revealed both known suspects and interesting candidates. Continue reading

Discrepancies in interpretation – when can exomes speak from themselves?

Interpretation. There is huge promise in discovering the genetic basis of neurodevelopmental disorders using exome sequencing, but it is often not clear how ambiguous results are communicated to families. In a recent publication in Clinical Genetics, the authors try to understand what happens to exome results as they land on the clinician’s desk – and leave us with the conclusion that diagnostic exome sequencing when reviewed in a clinical setting may have a false positive rate of up to 20% with 5% of false negatives. Continue reading

Launching the Epilepsy Genetics Initiative – Go EGI!

Launch. This week, the Epilepsy Genetics Initiative (EGI) was launched. EGI was founded by Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE) and represents a large database for diagnostic and research exomes that will guarantee regular re-analysis of exome data, which is particularly relevant for the large number of exomes that we think are negative. Here is a brief blog post why all exomes should eventually find their way into EGI. Continue reading