A rare form of ion channel gene mutation identified as underlying cause of generalized epilepsy

Abstract

The advances in molecular genetic methods has lead to the discovery of the genetic alterations that underlie the etiology of most diseases previously held to be idiopathic. Targeted genetic examination of a pediatric male patient showing a normal intellect, an extended area of skin hypopigmentation, and suffering from generalized epilepsy displaying a switch in epilepsy syndrome during the course of the disease towards a neurocutaneous syndrome was unsuccessful. Whole-exome sequencing identified a heterozygous missense mutation in a potassium chloride cotransporter gene, which together with the phenotype underscores the diagnosis of an epilepsy syndrome known in the literature as idiopathic generalized epilepsy type 14.