Mutations in inhibitory GABAA receptor subunit genes (GABRA1, GABRB3, GABRG2 and GABRD) have been associated with genetic epilepsy syndromes including childhood absence epilepsy (CAE), juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME), pure febrile seizures (FS), generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+), and Dravet syndrome (DS)/severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy (SMEI).
Mutations in inhibitory GABAA receptor subunit genes (GABRA1, GABRB3, GABRG2 and GABRD) have been associated with genetic epilepsy syndromes including childhood absence epilepsy (CAE), juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME), pure febrile seizures (FS), generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+), and Dravet syndrome (DS)/severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy (SMEI).
Mutations in inhibitory GABAA receptor subunit genes (GABRA1, GABRB3, GABRG2 and GABRD) have been associated with genetic epilepsy syndromes including childhood absence epilepsy (CAE), juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME), pure febrile seizures (FS), generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+), and Dravet syndrome (DS)/severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy (SMEI).
Mutations in GABA<sub>A</sub> receptor subunit genes are frequently associated with epilepsy, and nonsense mutations in GABRG2 are associated with several epilepsy syndromes including childhood absence epilepsy, generalized tonic clonic seizures and the epileptic encephalopathy, Dravet syndrome.
Dravet syndrome is caused mainly by mutations of voltage-gated Na(+) channels (most of them targeting Na(V) 1.1) and in few cases by mutations of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)(A) receptor γ2 subunit.
Many GABRG2 truncation mutations result in GEFS+, but the spectrum of phenotypic severity is wider, ranging from asymptomatic individuals to the Dravet syndrome.
Our findings suggested that different phenotypes of epilepsy, e.g., GEFS+ and Dravet syndrome (which share similar abnormalities in causative genes) are likely due to impaired axonal transport associated with the dominant-negative effects of GABRG2.
Mutations in inhibitory GABAA receptor subunit genes (GABRA1, GABRB3, GABRG2 and GABRD) have been associated with genetic epilepsy syndromes including childhood absence epilepsy (CAE), juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME), pure febrile seizures (FS), generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+), and Dravet syndrome (DS)/severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy (SMEI).
Our study demonstrates that GABRG2 is not a commonly involved in the etiology of SMEI and suggests that other and yet unidentified genes are involved in the syndrome
The GABRG2 nonsense mutation, Q40X, associated with Dravet syndrome activated NMD and generated a truncated subunit that was partially rescued by aminoglycoside-induced stop codon read-through.
In order to further investigate the role of SCN1A and GABRG2 in the pathogenesis of SMEI we have screened for mutations three families with at least two members affected by Dravet syndrome.
To investigate the possible correlation between genotype and phenotype of epilepsy, we analyzed the voltage-gated sodium channel alpha1-subunit (SCN1A) gene, beta1-subunit (SCN1B) gene, and gamma-aminobutyric acid(A) receptor gamma2-subunit (GABRG2) gene in DNAs from peripheral blood cells of 29 patients with severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy (SME) and 11 patients with other types of epilepsy.
We screened for mutations of SCN1A, SCN2A and GABRG2 (the gene encoding gamma2 subunit of the GABA(A) receptor) in 59 patients with Dravet syndrome and found 29 SCN1A mutations and three missense SCN2A mutations.
It has been established that febrile seizures and its extended syndromes like generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures (FS) plus (GEFS+) and Dravet syndrome have been associated with mutations especially in SCN1A and GABRG2 genes.
Genetic analysis of GABRG2 was performed on 140 Japanese patients with various childhood epilepsies largely including Dravet syndrome and genetic epilepsy with febrile seizures plus.
Mutations in GABRG2 have been associated with simple febrile seizures and with genetic epilepsy syndromes, including childhood absence epilepsy, generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus, and Dravet syndrome or severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy.