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SYNGAP1 encephalopathy: A distinctive generalized developmental and epileptic encephalopathy
Danique R M Vlaskamp1, Benjamin J Shaw1, Rosemary Burgess1
1From the Epilepsy Research Centre (D.R.M.V., B.J.S., R.B., M.F.B., S.F.B., M.S.H., I.E.S.), Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Austin Health, Australia; Departments of Genetics (D.R.M.V., C.M.A.v.R.-A.) and Neurology (D.R.M.V.), University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, the Netherlands; Pediatric Neurology Unit and Laboratories (D.M., M.M.) and Pediatric Neurology (R.G.), Neurogenetics and Neurobiology Unit and Laboratories, A. Meyer Children's Hospital, University of Florence, Italy; Department of Pediatrics and Pediatric Epilepsy Centre (H.X., W.X.W., Y.J.), Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China; Department of Pediatrics (C.T.M., H.C.M.), Division of Genetic Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle; Population Health and Immunity Division (M.F.B.), Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Medical Biology (M.F.B.), University of Melbourne, Australia; Caulfield (D.W.), Melbourne, Australia; Department of Clinical Genetics (S.M.M.), Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Clinical Genetics (A.S.B., G.M.S.M., I.M.B.H.v.d.L.), Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Clinical Genetics (J.M.v.H.), VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Tasmanian Health Service (T.L.W.), Women's and Children's Services, Launceston General Hospital, Tasmania, Australia; TY Nelson Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery (R.I.W.) and Institute of Neuroscience and Muscle Research (R.I.W.), Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, Australia; Department of Neurosciences (S.M.), Lady Cilento Children's Hospital, Brisbane, Australia; Department of Anatomical Pathology (R.M.K.), Austin Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; IRCCS Stella Maris Foundation (F.S., R.G.), Pisa, Italy; Klinikum Oldenburg (G.C.K.), Zentrum für Kinder-und Jugendmedizin, Klinik für Neuropädiatrie u. angeborene Stoffwechselerkrankungen, Oldenburg, Germany; Centre of Epilepsy (Y.J.), Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, China; Department of Paediatrics (I.E.S.), University of Melbourne, Royal Children's Hospital, Australia; and Florey Institute of Neurosciences and Mental Health (I.E.S.), Parkville, Australia.
Objective:
To delineate the epileptology, a key part of the SYNGAP1 phenotypic spectrum, in a large patient cohort.
Methods:
Patients were recruited via investigators' practices or social media. We included patients with (likely) pathogenic SYNGAP1 variants or chromosome 6p21.32 microdeletions incorporating SYNGAP1. We analyzed patients' phenotypes using a standardized epilepsy questionnaire, medical records, EEG, MRI, and seizure videos.
Results:
We included 57 patients (53% male, median age 8 years) with SYNGAP1 mutations (n = 53) or microdeletions (n = 4). Of the 57 patients, 56 had epilepsy: generalized in 55, with focal seizures in 7 and infantile spasms in 1. Median seizure onset age was 2 years. A novel type of drop attack was identified comprising eyelid myoclonia evolving to a myoclonic-atonic (n = 5) or atonic (n = 8) seizure. Seizure types included eyelid myoclonia with absences (65%), myoclonic seizures (34%), atypical (20%) and typical (18%) absences, and atonic seizures (14%), triggered by eating in 25%. Developmental delay preceded seizure onset in 54 of 56 (96%) patients for whom early developmental history was available. Developmental plateauing or regression occurred with seizures in 56 in the context of a developmental and epileptic encephalopathy (DEE). Fifty-five of 57 patients had intellectual disability, which was moderate to severe in 50. Other common features included behavioral problems (73%); high pain threshold (72%); eating problems, including oral aversion (68%); hypotonia (67%); sleeping problems (62%); autism spectrum disorder (54%); and ataxia or gait abnormalities (51%).
Conclusions:
SYNGAP1 mutations cause a generalized DEE with a distinctive syndrome combining epilepsy with eyelid myoclonia with absences and myoclonic-atonic seizures, as well as a predilection to seizures triggered by eating.
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