KCNC2 – a novel epilepsy gene harbors an unusual phenotypic spectrum

Shaw. It has been a while since we have written about novel gene discoveries in the epilepsies, so I wanted to start this blog post with a general introduction to the genes that are still undiscovered, waiting to be identified. Currently, we assume that there are several hundred genetic etiologies for human epilepsies “out there” that we have not characterized yet. One of the most recent members to join the group of epilepsy genes is KCNC2 that we described in a recent publication. KCNC2, coding for a member of the Shaw-related voltage-gated potassium channels, presents with a phenotypic spectrum that is different from many other epilepsy genes. Continue reading

Disease burden in genetic epilepsies – five things to know

Disease burden. One aspect of neurodevelopmental disorders that we cover insufficiently on our blog is how epilepsy affects families. Not just the symptoms of seizures and developmental delay, but how the overall burden of developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs) affects the quality of life of patients. In a recent study, we took a first step towards measuring quality of life and assessing to what degree seizure control and quality of life in DEEs are related. To our surprise, we found that objective seizure control and quality of life are unrelated. In contrast, quality of life is related to a more nuanced measure, the number of days that were minimally disrupted by seizures.

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