Hu Y, Zhang B, Chen L, He J, Yang L, Chen X. SCAF4 variants are associated with epilepsy with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Seizure 2024;
116:113-118. [PMID:
37891035 DOI:
10.1016/j.seizure.2023.10.008]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2023] [Revised: 10/17/2023] [Accepted: 10/20/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
AIMS
The genetic causes of epilepsy with unknown etiology in most patients remain unknown. The aim of this study was to elucidate the phenotype of SCAF4-related epilepsy.
METHODS
Trio-based whole-exome sequencing was performed in patients with epilepsy. Silico programs and protein modeling were employed to predict the damaging of variants. Previously reported SCAF4 variants were systematically reviewed to analyze the genotype-phenotype correlations.
RESULTS
Three heterozygous variants in the SCAF4 were detected in three cases, including one missense variant and two frameshift variants. All variants were de novo. None of these variants is present in gnomAD controls. The missense variant was predicted to be damaging in silico tools. Protein modeling showed that two frameshift variants resulted in loss of domains, and the missense variant may disrupt a nearby phosphorylation site and alter the hydrogen bonds around 54C and the stability of the SCAF4 protein. Intellectual development was mildly delayed for all patients except for one with whom contact was lost. All probands experienced epilepsy as infrequent seizures, responded well to antiseizure drugs, and had a median [IQR] seizure onset age of 4 [1.75, 7.5] years. The variants in the domain-encoding exons and upstream exons exhibited a strong association with epilepsy.
CONCLUSIONS
SCAF4 is a potential causative gene of epilepsy with neurodevelopmental disorders.
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