Shared functional network abnormality in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy and their siblings

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Genetics
• Epilepsy Research

Background:

• Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is increasingly recognized as a neurological network disease with significant genetic underpinnings.
• Previous research has underestimated the role of genetics in TLE pathogenesis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate shared functional network abnormalities in patients with sporadic TLE and their unaffected siblings.
• To explore the potential genetic contribution to TLE through familial network analysis.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 58 TLE patients, 13 unaffected siblings, and 30 healthy controls.
• Analysis of task-based whole-brain functional network topology using group-independent component analysis.
• Assessment of effective functional connectivity between identified brain networks.

Main Results:

• Patients and siblings exhibited altered network topology, including increased global efficiency and decreased clustering coefficient and small-worldness.
• Impaired effective functional connectivity was observed from the ventral attention network to the limbic system in both groups.
• These topological and connectivity abnormalities were more prevalent in unaffected siblings than in the general population and showed high correlation between patients and siblings.

Conclusions:

• Shared functional network disturbances and effective connectivity impairments exist between TLE patients and their unaffected siblings.
• These findings suggest a potential genetic susceptibility to TLE, contributing to seizure susceptibility and language decline.