Delineation of epileptic and neurodevelopmental phenotypes associated with variants in STX1B

To further delineate the clinical and genetic spectrum of epileptic and neurodevelopmental conditions associated with variants in STX1B.

We screened our diagnostic in-house database (comprising >20,000 exome sequencing datasets) for pathogenic and likely pathogenic variants inSTX1B. The detected cases were phenotyped in detail, and the findings were compared to previously published case reports.

We identified four unrelated individuals with pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants in STX1B (one missense and three loss-of-function variants). All patients displayed epileptic phenotypes, including epileptiform discharges on electroencephalography (without apparent seizures), developmental and epileptic encephalopathy and focal epilepsy. Three of the four patients had developmental delay. Febrile seizures occurred in two individuals. One patient with focal epilepsy underwent epilepsy surgery without lasting improvement. The neuropathological workup of brain tissue revealed a mild malformation of cortical development without alterations of cortical lamination or dysplastic neurons.

Our findings confirm the wide clinical range ofSTX1B-related epileptic conditions and highlight the necessity of genetic testing prior to epilepsy surgery in cases with monogenic epilepsy. The identification of loss-of-function variants in very differently affected individuals suggests that no clear genotype-phenotype correlation can be established.