The spectrum of de novo variants in 30,000 individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders

NDD. Trio-exome sequencing is the gold standard to identify the underlying genetic basis in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders. De novo variants account for the vast majority of causative genetic findings once a diagnosis is made, but the overall genetic landscape is very heterogeneous, with few genes explaining more than 1% of the genetic morbidity. As the largest study of its kind to date, a recent publication in Nature assessed the spectrum of de novo variants in neurodevelopmental disorders in more than 31,000 individuals. The authors identify more than 250 disease-associated genes, highlight 28 novel genetic etiologies, and highlight signals in their data that hint at more than 1,000 disease-associated genes yet to be discovered. In this blog post, I have summarized the five take-home messages from this large study. Continue reading

OMIM to retire EIEE classification – an important step to overhaul terminology for genetic epilepsies

EIEE. Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) is the undisputed main resource for information regarding genes and disease. It is the resource that the majority of clinicians and researchers in the field turn to in order to get information about established or novel genetic etiologies in genetic epilepsies and neurodevelopmental disorders. However, historically, OMIM had decided to enumerate many of the genes for developmental and epileptic encephalopathies within a phenotypic series called Early Infantile Epileptic Encephalopathies (EIEE). The field has advanced, and we now understand that most genetic etiologies have a broad phenotypic range and can cause a wide range of epilepsy phenotypes. Accordingly, in collaboration and consultation with our ClinGen epilepsy clinical domain working group, OMIM will retire the EIEE classification and refer to them as developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEE). Dravet Syndrome, formerly EIEE6 will now become DEE6, which is the secondary annotation to the actual term “Dravet Syndrome”. For some, this might be a small change in semantics. However, as a clinician trying to make sure that the uniqueness and distinctiveness of childhood epilepsies in the era of large-scale data analysis is appreciated, this small step is likely to be highly influential in the future. Here is some background on how the EIEEs finally became DEEs. Continue reading

DNA methylation, somatic mutations, and polymicrogyria

MCDs. Malformation of cortical developments are a frequent cause of intractable epilepsies and, if appropriate, surgical resection may be warranted. Malformations represent a wide range of cortical lesions resulting from derangements of normal intrauterine developmental processes affecting the formation of the cortical mantle. Polymicrogyria (PMG) is one of the most common malformations of cortical development. However, while somatic mutations affecting the mTOR pathway are a known cause of certain subtypes of MCD, the polymicrogyrias have remained elusive. The underlying cause remains unknown in more than 80% of cases and, if identified, may be due to a wide range of underlying genetic causes. In a recent publication, mosaic trisomy 1q was identified as a novel and relatively frequent cause of polymicrogyria, emphasizing the role of somatic mutation detection in malformation of cortical development. Continue reading