Category Archives: autism

Papers of the week – WES Meta analysis, Dravet mice & large sequencing studies

Posted on by

Bild1Time flies – already thursday night again.  Here are updates on study designs to identify rare pathogenic mutations in neurodevelopment diseases, an epilepsy animal model study as well as novel statistical frameworks for large genetic screens.

The placebo effect. In a recent paper in Science Translational Medicine the group of Kam-Hansen investigated the effect of altered placebo and drug labeling changes and its outcome in patients with episodic migraine. Their results suggest that the placebo accounted for more than 50% of the drug effect.

Continue reading →

Papers of the week – Comorbidity clusters, Epigenomic annotation & exome-based TDT

Posted on by

Finally, I have finished my PhD. Bild1After focussing on writing and defending my thesis for the last few months, I am now ready to focus on research again. Because I am understandably in a very happy mood, this week’s selection of papers also reflects the fun aspects of science beside neurogenetics and genomics. Continue reading →

Story of a genetic shape-shifter: SCN2A in benign seizures, autism and epileptic encephalopathy

Posted on by

The other sodium channel gene. The week before Christmas, the Kiel group identified its first patient with SCN2A encephalopathy. At the same time, a questionably benign SNP in the same gene is haunting our Israel Epilepsy Family Project. Time to review the mysterious SCN2A gene that initially entered the scene as a candidate for a rare, benign familial epilepsy syndrome – only to return as one of the most prominent genes for autism, intellectual disability, and epileptic encephalopathies to date. Continue reading →

Beneath the surface – the role of small inherited CNVs in autism

Posted on by

Grey zone. Structural genomic variants or copy number variations (CNV) can be reliably assessed using array comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH) or Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) arrays.  However, for deletions or duplications smaller than 50-100 kB, these technologies have a poor detection rate with many false positive and false negative findings unless platforms are used that target specific candidate regions. Exome analysis, on the other hand, is capable of assessing genetic variation reliably on the single base-pair level. Between both technologies, there is a grey zone of structural genomic variants that are difficult to detect; CNVs smaller than 50 kB are often difficult to assess, and the extent and pathogenic role of these small CNVs is unclear. Now, a recent paper in the American Journal of Human Genetics manages to detect small CNVs through exome data. Their analysis in patients with autism, parents, and unaffected siblings suggests a contribution of small inherited CNVs to the overall autism risk. Continue reading →

Mutation intolerance – why some genes withstand mutations and others don’t

Posted on by

The river of genetic variants. The era of high-throughput sequencing has given us several unexpected insights into the human genome. One of these insights is the observation that mutations or variations can occur in parts of our genome without any major consequences. Every individual is a “knockout” for at least two genes in the human genome. This means that in every individual, both copies of a single gene are disrupted through mutations or small deletions or duplications. In addition, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of genes with disruptive mutations that affect only a single copy of the gene. Similar mutations in specific disease-associated genes, however, will invariably result in an early onset genetic disorder. This comparison already shows that the genes in the human genome differ with respect to the amount of disruptive genetic variation they can tolerate. A recent study in PLOS Genetics now tries to catalogue the genes in the human genome by assessing their mutation intolerance based on the genetic variation seen in large-scale exome datasets. Many genes for neurodevelopmental disorders are highly intolerant to mutations. Furthermore, some genes for monogenic epilepsies show surprising results in this assessment. Continue reading →

Identifying core phenotypes – epilepsy, ID and recurrent microdeletions

Posted on by

Triad. There are three microdeletions in particular that increase the risk for the Idiopathic/Genetic Generalized Epilepsies (IGE/GGE). This triad includes microdeletions at 15q13.3, 16p13.11 and 15q11.2, which are hotspot deletions arising from the particular architecture of the human genome. While the association of these microdeletions with epilepsy and other neurodevelopmental disorders including autism, intellectual disability and schizophrenia is well established, the core phenotype of these variants remains elusive, including the question whether such a core phenotype actually exists. In a recent paper in Neurology, Mullen and collaborators zoom in on a possible core phenotype of these microdeletions. The authors investigate a phenotype in which these microdeletions are particularly enriched: generalized epilepsy with intellectual disability. Continue reading →

ST3GAL3 and exome sequencing in autosomal recessive West Syndrome

Posted on by

Autosomal recessive West Syndrome. Exome sequencing and other high-throughput sequencing technologies work best in the identification of recessive disorders. While many cases of West Syndrome are thought to be the result of de novo mutations, recessive inheritance is seen in a subset of patients. In a recent paper in Epilepsia, Edvardson and colleagues now report mutations in ST3GAL3 in a consanguineous Palestinian family with four affected individuals with West Syndrome. This report takes us deep into the chromosomal anatomy of the linkage region, raising the question at what point we can claim that a gene is found. Continue reading →

Exome sequencing in epileptic encephalopathies – a classification of de novo mutations

Posted on by

Trio-sequencing your clinic. From the perspective of a child neurology clinic, I often wonder how much information we would gain if we performed trio exome sequencing for de novo mutations systematically in all our patients with difficult-to-treat epilepsies. Many of these patients have epilepsies that are difficult to classify and they have not been included in our existing EuroEPINOMICS working groups on defined syndromes. Now, a recent publication in Epilepsia gives us an idea what we will find if we perform family-based exome sequencing in patients with unclassified epileptic encephalopathies. Basically, you will find SCN1A and CDKL5 plus mutations in several genes that are likely pathogenic. But there is much more to this issue, which motivated me to come up with a classification scheme for epilepsy-related de novo events.  Continue reading →

Cold fusion – joining exome datasets to identify autism genes

Posted on by

Mergers and acquisitions. Invariably, genetic research in neurodevelopmental disorders is moving towards joint analyses of large datasets. While the methodology of meta-analysis is well established for genome-wide association studies, the joint analysis of exome datasets comes with many question marks. Now, a recent paper in PLOS Genetics pioneers the field of joint exome data analysis for association studies in autism. This paper highlights some unexpected facets of rare variant analysis. Continue reading →

“Meta-channelopathies” – RBFOX1 deletions and human epilepsy

Posted on by

Man is built to seize. When Hughlings Jackson made this famous comment pertaining to the inherent hyperexcitability of the human brain in response to a wide range of different stimuli, he probably didn’t anticipate the mechanisms of splicing regulation. Our CNS is actively protected from hyperexcitability through directed splicing of ion channel mRNA. Now, a recent study in Epilepsia finds that these mechanisms may be dysfunctional in human epilepsy. Continue reading →