Objective:To explore the clinical and genetic characteristics of three children with Hyperekplexia.Methods:Three children who were diagnosed with Hyperekplexia at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University between June 2018 and March 2020 were selected as the study subjects. Clinical data of the three children were collected. All children were subjected to whole exome sequencing. Pathogenicity of candidate variants were verified by Sanger sequencing and bioinformatic analysis.Results:The three children were all males, and had presented exaggerated startle reflexes and generalized stiffness in response to unexpected auditory or tactile stimulation, or had frequent traumatic falls following exaggerated startle. All children had shown positive nose-tapping reflex, though EEG and cranial MRI exams were all negative. Whole exome sequencing revealed that two children had harbored homozygous variants of the GLRB gene, of which the c. 1017_c.1018insAG (p.G340Rfs*14) was unreported previously. The third child had harbored compound heterozygous variants of the GLRA1 gene, among which the c.1262T>A (p.IIe421Asn) variant showed an unreported autosomal recessive inheritance. All children had responded well to clonazepam treatment. Conclusion:Patients with Hyperekplexia have typical clinical manifestations. Early clinical identification and genetic analysis can facilitate their diagnosis.

Objective:To explore the clinical and genetic characteristics of two children with Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) due to variants of TANC2 gene. Methods:Clinical data of two children who were admitted to the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University respectively in April 2020 and April 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. Peripheral blood samples of the children and their parents were collected and subjected to whole exome sequencing. Candidate variants were verified by Sanger sequencing. By using " TANC2 gene", "Neurodevelopmental disorders", "Nervous system development disorders", " TANC2" as the key words, similar cases were searched from the CNKI, Wanfang database platform and PubMed database, with the search time set as from the establishment of the database to December 2023. This study was approved by Medical Ethics Committee of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University (Ethics No. 2020-57). Results:Case 1 was a 1-year-and-3-month-old girl who had developed convulsions at 1 year old and had three episodes of seizures. Her epilepsy had resolved with the treatment of oxcarbazepine, which was stopped at the age of 2-year-and-7-month. Her language, movement and intelligence development were all normal. Case 2 was a 1-year-and-10-month-old boy, who had developed convulsions at 1 year old. His seizure type was myoclonus, and the frequency was dozens of times a day. His epilepsy had resolved with the treatment of sodium valproate. His language, movement and intelligence development was delayed for about half a year. Genetic analysis showed that both children had harbored novel variants of the TANC2 gene (NM_025185.4), including c. 3398G>A (p.Gly1133Glu) and c.2829+ 1G>A, respectively. Based on the guidelines from the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG), the former was rated as likely pathogenic (PS2+ PM2_Supporting+ PP3) and the latter was rated as pathogenic (PVS1+ PS2+ PM2_Supporting). Two previous reports were retrieved, which had involved 17 cases and 16 variants. Common features had included autism spectrum disorder (70.6%, 12/17), intellectual disability (94.1%, 16/17), language and motor retardation (88.2%, 15/17; 58.8%, 10/17), facial dysmorphism, epilepsy, ataxia, and thoracic and spinal deformities. Conclusion:Variants of the TANC2 gene probably underlay the epilepsy and development delay in these children with NDDs.

Objective:To summarize the clinical characteristics of patients with epilepsy caused by focal cortical dysplasia (FCD), and identify the influencing factors for postoperative seizure controls.Methods:Fifty-seven patients with epilepsy caused by FCD admitted to Department of Neurosurgery, Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from July 2019 to November 2023 were chosen; standard preoperative evaluation, surgery, postoperative management and follow-up were performed. A retrospective study of clinical data, imaging and video electroencephalogram (VEEG) data, surgical approaches, pathological findings, and follow-up data was performed; influencing factors for postoperative seizure controls were analyzed.Results:In these 57 patients with epilepsy caused by FCD, 29 were males (50.88%) and 28 were females (49.12%). Onset age was 30.00 (8.00, 74.50) months, and surgery age was 95.00 (50.00, 138.50) months. Focal to bilateral tonic-clonic seizures (42/57; 73.68%) and epileptic spasms (13/57; 22.81%) were common seizure types. Cranial MRI was positive in 34 patients (59.65%), mainly manifested as abnormal cortical gyri/sulci morphology (17/57; 29.82%). In 43 patients accepted PET-CT, hypometabolic sites were detected in 40 (93.02%), and complete agreement between PET/MRI fusion results and actual lesion sites was noted in 40 (93.02%). FCD type I was noted in 16 patients (28.07%), type II in 39 (68.42%), and type III in 2 (3.51%). By December 2023, 44 (77.19%) had Engel grading I, 4 (7.02%) had grading II, 4 (7.02%) had grading III, and 5 (8.77%) had grading IV. Children with good prognosis (Engel grading I+II) and those with poor prognosis (Engel grading III+IV) showed significant differences in terms of time from first seizure to surgery, positive/negative MRI, and regularity of postoperative ASMs ( P<0.05). Conclusions:Focal to bilateral tonic-clonic seizure is the most common seizure type in patients with epilepsy caused by FCD, and abnormal cortical gyri/sulci morphology is the most common MRI manifestation; PET/MRI fusion imaging is superior to PET-CT or MRI in identifying epileptogenic foci. Poor seizure control can be noted in patients with long onset time to surgery, with negative cranial MRI results, or with irregular postoperative ASMs.

Objective:To explore the clinical and genetic characteristics of asparagine synthase deficiency.Methods:Case series studies. Retrospective analysis and summary of the clinical data of 6 cases with asparagine synthase deficiency who were diagnosed by genetic testing and admitted to the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from May 2017 to April 2023 were analyzed retrospectively. The main clinical features, laboratory and imaging examination characteristics of the 6 cases were summarized, and the gene variation sites of them were analyzed.Results:All of the 6 cases were male, with onset ages ranging from 1 month to 1 year and 4 months. All of the 6 cases had cognitive and motor developmental delay, with 3 cases starting with developmental delay, 3 cases starting with convulsions and later experiencing developmental arrest or even regression. All of 6 cases had epilepsy, in whom 2 cases with severe microcephaly developed epileptic encephalopathy in the early stages of infancy with spasms as the main form of convulsions, 4 cases with mild or no microcephaly gradually evolved into convulsions with no fever after multiple febrile convulsions with focal seizures, tonic clonic seizures and tonic seizure as the main forms of convulsions. Three cases of 4 gradually developed into stagnation or even regression of development and ataxia after multiple convulsions with no fever. There were normal cranial imaging in 2 cases, dysplasia of the brains in 1 cases, frontal lobe apex accompanied by abnormal white matter signal in the frontal lobe and thin corpus callosum in 1 case, thin corpus callosum and abnormal lateral ventricular morphology in 1 case, and normal in early stage, but gradually developing into cerebellar atrophy at the age of 5 years and 9 months in 1 case. Two cases underwent visual evoked potential tests, the results of which were both abnormal. Three cases underwent auditory evoked potential examination, with 1 being normal and 2 being abnormal. All of 6 cases had variations in the asparagine synthase gene, with 2 deletion variations and 7 missense variations. The variations of 2 cases had not been reported so far, including c.1341_1343del and c.1283A>G, c.1165_1167del and c.1075G>A. The follow-up time ranged from 3 months to 53 months. Two cases who had severe microcephaly died in infancy, while the other 4 cases with mild or no microcephaly were in survival states until the follow-up days but the control of epilepsy was poor.Conclusions:Asparagine synthase deficiency has a certain degree of heterogeneity in clinical phenotype. Children with obvious microcephaly often present as severe cases, while children with mild or no microcephaly have relatively mild clinical manifestations. The variation of asparagine synthetase gene is mainly missense variation.

Objective:To analyze the genetic variations and clinical phenotypic characteristics of epilepsy associated with CSNK2B gene mutations. Methods:A case series summary study.Clinical data of 15 epileptic children with CSNK2B gene mutations diagnosed and treated at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University and the Peking University First Hospital from February 2016 to October 2023 were retrospectively analyzed.The clinical manifestations, genotypes, and electroencephalography (EEG) results were summarized. Results:Among the 15 children (8 boys and 7 girls), 14 cases had de novo mutations in the CSNK2B gene, and 1 case had hereditary variations.There were 5 missense variants, 4 splice-site variants, 3 frameshift variants, and 3 nonsense variants.Ten mutation sites had not been previously reported (c.326G>A/p.Cys109Tyr, c.485A>G/p.His162Arg, c.368-1G>A, c.464A>C/p.Asp155Ala, c.301T>G/p.Tyr101Asp, c.342T>A/p.Cys114*, c.198del/p.Asn67Thrfs*5, c.292-10T>G, c.573-574del/p.Lys191Asnfs*54, and c. 11C>G/p.Ser4*).The age of onset of seizures ranged from 14 days to 6 years, with 13 cases starting within 2 years old.The types of seizures included focal seizures in 9 cases, generalized tonic-clonic seizure (GTCS) in 5 cases, myoclonic seizures in 1 case, atonic seizures in 1 case, atypical absence seizures in 1 case, and epileptic seizures in 1 case.Three cases had multiple seizures, and 4 cases had cluster seizures.The EEG showed slow background activity in 1 case.Epileptiform discharges were observed in 13 cases during the interictal phase, including generalized discharges in 6 cases, multifocal discharges in 3 cases, and focal discharges in 5 cases.Two cases had normal EEG findings.Brain magnetic resonance imaging results were normal in 10 cases.The age of the last follow-up ranged from 1 year and 1 month to 13 years and 10 months.Seizures were controlled in 12 cases treated with 1 or 2 antiepileptic drugs, while seizures persisted in 2 cases treated with multiple antiepileptic drugs, and 1 case suffered no seizures for 1 year and 3 months, without antiepileptic drug treatment.Oxcarbazepine was effective in 5 cases (5/7), Valproate sodium was effective in 6 cases (6/8), and Levetiracetam was effective in 3 cases (3/9). Conclusions:CSNK2B gene mutations are mainly de novo mutations, and epilepsy triggered by them typically starts within 2 years of age.GTCS and focal seizures are the most common types.The seizures of most children are easily controlled with the effective treatment of Oxcarbazepine, Valproate sodium, and Levetiracetam.

Objective:To summarize the clinical and genetic characteristics of mental retardation disorder (MRD) with TRIO gene variant in children.Methods:Case series study. The data of 9 children with TRIO gene variants were collected retrospectively from August 2019 to March 2024 in Department of Neurology, Beijing Children′s Hospital, Capital Medical University and Department of Pediatrics, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. The data included gender, age, intellectual and motor development, appearance, seizures, neuroimaging and genetic results. The clinical features and genotype-phenotype correlations were summarized.Results:Of the 9 children, 6 boys and 3 girls, 4 MRD63 children presented with moderate to severe developmental delays accompanied by macrocephaly; 5 MRD44 children had mild to moderate developmental delays with microcephaly. A total of 5 children had dysmorphic facial features (flat occiput, thick eyebrows, unibrow, large ears, short fingers, pale skin, yellow hair, and strabismus), 2 children experienced seizures (1 child with myoclonic seizure and 1 with absence seizure), 4 children had feeding difficulties, 1 child had congenital cataracts, 1 child had congenital heart disease, 1 child had recurrent infections, and 1 child had tiger-striped changes in the fundus examination. TRIO gene variants carried by the 9 children were all de novo, involving 8 variant sites, including 7 missense variants and 1 frameshift variant, c.3232C>T/p.R1078W (2 cases), c.3920A>G/p.Y1307C, c.4112A>T/p.H1371L, c.4283G>T/p.R1428L, c.4394A>G/p.N1465S, c.6041T>C/p.I2014T, c.6821G>A/p.R2274H, c.7027delC/p.Q2343Sfs*70. Among them, 2 sites are located in the Spectrin domain, 4 sites are in the GEFD1 domain, 2 sites are in the GEFD2 domain, and 1 site (frameshift variant) is in the PH2-SH3 domain. The individual with frameshift variant exhibit absence seizures, mild developmental delay, and the mildest phenotype. The child with myoclonic seizures was treated with valproic acid and levetiracetam for seizure control, while the child with absence epilepsy was treated with valproic acid and lamotrigine for seizure control. All 9 children underwent regular rehabilitation exercises, making slow progress.Conclusions:TRIO gene related MRD is characterized by varying degrees of developmental delay, and often accompanied by macrocephaly or microcephaly, dysmorphic facial features, and with or without seizures. The main variant types are missense variants, which are mostly concentrated in the Spectran domain and GEFD domain. p. R1078W may be a relative hotspot variant. The phenotype caused by the frameshift variant is relatively milder.

Objective:To explore risk factors for clinical onset in children with uncontrolled self-limited epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (SeLECTS) managed by 2 anti-seizure medications (ASMs).Methods:A total of 112 children with SeLECTS who were diagnosed at the Department of Pediatric Neurology of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 2018 to May 2021 were retrospectively reviewed.All of them were treated with conventional ASMs, and regularly followed up for 1-2 years.Types of therapeutic drugs, clinical seizure control status, presence of new seizure forms, electroencephalogram (EEG) were reviewed at follow-up visits.According to whether the seizures were controlled after the use of no more than 2 ASMs, patients were divided into poor response group (43 cases) and good response group (69 cases), and their clinical data and EEG characteristics were compared.Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the risk factors for seizures that were uncontrolled by 2 ASMs. Results:There were significant differences in the age of onset ( χ2=8.919, P=0.003), seizure form ( χ2=4.218, P=0.040), seizure frequency ( Z=-7.664, P<0.001), EEG background slowing ( χ2=10.284, P=0.001), emergence of electrical status epilepticus during slow-wave sleep (ESES)( χ2=11.921, P=0.001), discharge generalization ( χ2=25.377, P<0.001), and presence of epileptic encephalopathy with spike-and-wave activation in sleep (EE-SWAS)( χ2=54.334, P<0.001) between groups.Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that seizure frequency ( P<0.001, OR=0.086, 95% CI: 0.022-0.329), discharge generalization ( P=0.006, OR=9.942, 95% CI: 1.918-51.527) and EEG background slowing ( P=0.041, OR=6.648, 95% CI: 1.077-41.038) were the 3 main risk factors associated with poor response to short-term medications of ASMs. Conclusions:Seizures are easily controlled in most SeLECTS patients medicated with ASMs with a favorable prognosis.Seizure frequency, discharge generalization and EEG background slowing are risk factors for the poor response to short-term pharmacotherapy in children with SeLECTS.

Objective:To explore the clinical manifestations and genetic characteristics of Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome (WHS) to improve the ability of diagnosis and differential diagnosis of the disease.Methods:The clinical features and auxiliary examinations and treatment of a proband with WHS caused by microdeletion of 4p16.3 segment who admitted to the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University in December 2021 were recorded, and whole exome sequencing (WES) of the family was performed. The prognosis was followed up.Results:The female proband, 11 months old, presented with convulsions at the age of 8 months, with the characteristics of heat sensitivity and cluster seizures, and her identical twin sister had a similar medical history. Physical examination found malnutrition, retarded development, special face, prominent forehead, wide nasal bridge, small jaw, precordial murmur and grade 3/6 murmur in the whole period, hyperactivity of P2, and low limb muscle tone. The whole exon and copy number variation (CNV) test of the family revealed that the proband had a 1.99 Mb heterozygous deletion in the chromosome 4p16.3 segment, including WHSC1 (NSD2), WHSC2 (NEFLA) and other genes. Copy number variation sequencing (CNV-Seq) of the proband and her sister showed 1.97 and 1.92 Mb heterozygous deletion of chromosome 4p16.3, respectively. Genealogical analysis by quantitative polymerase chain reaction revealed that the CNV was de novo, and it was determined to be a pathogenic variant according to the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics guidelines. The proband took sodium valproate orally, and her sister took oral sodium valproate, zonisamide, and levetiracetam successively, and at the same time they received family rehabilitation training. The age at the last follow-up was 1 year and 8 months. Neither of them had convulsions again in the past 3 months, but the developmental delay was obvious. Conclusion:WHS patients may present with growth retardation, epilepsy, Greek warrior helmet-like special face, and congenital heart disease, and may have microdeletions in the chromosome 4p16.3 segment.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical characteristics and genetic basis of two children patients with CHARGE syndrome. METHODS: The clinical features of the two patients were analyzed, and potential variants were detected by Trio whole exome sequencing (trio-WES) of the probands and their parents. RESULTS: Child 1 has manifested cerebellar vermis dysplasia, enlargement of cerebral ventricles, whereas child 2 manifested with infantile spasm and congenital hip dysplasia. Both children were found to harbor de novo heterozygous variants of the CHD7 gene, namely c.4015C>T (exon 17) and c.5050G>A (exon 22). Based on the guidelines of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, the two variants were rated as pathogenic variants, and the related disease was CHARGE syndrome. Furthermore, child 2 was also found to harbor a novel heterozygous c.6161A>C (p.Gln2054Pro) missense variant of COL12A1 gene, which was rated as possibly pathogenic, and the associated disease was Bethlem myopathy type 2, which is partially matched with the patient' s clinical phenotype. CONCLUSION The special clinical phenotypes shown by the two children harboring novel CHD7 variants have further expanded the phenotypic spectrum of CHARGE syndrome.
CHARGE Syndrome/genetics* ; DNA Helicases/genetics* ; DNA-Binding Proteins/genetics* ; Genetic Testing ; Heterozygote ; Humans ; Mutation ; Phenotype ; Whole Exome Sequencing

Objective:To explore the clinical and genetic characteristics of a case of early-onset epileptic encephalopathy caused by the UBA5 gene mutation and to review relevant literatures. Methods:The clinical characte-ristics and genetic data of a child with the UBA5 gene mutation in the Department of Pediatrics, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University in June 2020 were retrospectively analyzed.Clinical characteristics and gene variation characteristics of the disease were reviewed in the domestic and foreign databases. Results:(1) The female patient presented infantile spasms at the age of 4 months.Electroencephalogram(EEG) suggested hypsarrhythmia and she was not responsive to a variety of anti-epileptic drugs.Besides, the patient showed severe cognitive and motor development delay, hypotonia, and microcephaly.The results of whole exome sequencing showed that the compound heterozygous mutation of UBA5 gene: exon 3 c. 214C>T (p.R72C) and exon 9 c. 844_c.845 insA (p.Y282Xfs*1), her father carries c. 214C>T mutation and her mother carries c. 844_c.845 INSA mutation.(2) To December 2020, a total of 15 cases of early-onset epileptic encephalopathy caused by the UBA5 gene mutation have been reported abroad.The main clinical manifestations were uncontrollable spasms, abnormal EEG findings, hypotonia, severe cognitive and movement disorders, microcephaly, and brain atrophy.A total of 11 mutation sites of the UBA5 gene were found, all belonging to the autosomal recessive inheritance, of which c. 1111G>A was the most common. Conclusions:The UBA5 gene mutation can lead to early-onset epileptic encephalopathy, which belongs to the autosomal recessive inheritance.It is featured by the early onset, uncontrollable seizures and poor long-term prognosis.