Genetics of epilepsy

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological diseases in the world, but it is also complex and difficult to study. There is a significant genetic component to epilepsy and more information is being published frequently. It is difficult to group and summarise all of this information in a way that is beneficial for both researchers and clinicians. The aim of this paper is to create a summary of all currently known epilepsy associated genes in order to aid epilepsy research to better understand the aetiology of the disease. This was achieved through gathering genetic data from three databases: Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), Clincal Genome (ClinGen), and PubMed. Genes were filtered based on specific criteria and were summarised into three tables: Epilepsy genes, Epilepsy associated genes and Predicted epilepsy associated genes. A fourth table was produced to showcase all epilepsy genes that were identified in all three databases. A total of 2,536 genes were identified to have some level of association with epilepsy. A total of 238 genes were classified as Epilepsy genes, 1,317 genes were classified as Epilepsy associated genes and 981 genes were classified as Predicted epilepsy genes. Finally, 86 genes were identified to be epilepsy genes that were found in all three genetic databases and represent the highest confidence in association with epilepsy. The significance of this study involves the ability to give researchers an up-to-date list of genes that have an association to epilepsy and a summary of information about said genes.