Developmental and epileptic encephalopathy (DEE) is a group of diseases that severely affects the neurological development of children, characterized by frequent seizures and significant neurodevelopmental impairments. These diseases not only impact the quality of life of affected children but also impose a heavy burden on families and society. In recent years, the development of brain network theory has provided a new perspective on understanding the pathological mechanisms of DEE, especially the role of structural and functional brain networks in the process of epilepsy. This review systematically summarized the research progress of structural and functional brain networks in DEE, highlighted their importance in seizure activity, disease progression, and prognosis evaluation.
ObjectiveTo explore the clinical, genetic and prognostic features of early infantile epileptic encephalopathy caused by DNM1 gene pathogenic variations.MethodsClinical phenotype, genotype and prognosis of 3 individuals with de novo variants in DNM1 gene were analyzed retrospectively. Through using “Dynamin-1” or “DNM1” as key words to search literature at database of China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, PubMed and OMIM. Genotype-phenotype correlations were analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA).ResultAmong the 3 patients, 1 female and 2 males. 2 cases with epileptic spasm and 1 case with focal clonic seizure or secondary generalized tonic-clonic seizure were manifested with onset age from 2 to 17 months. De novo variants at NM_004408.4: c.415 G>A(P. Gly 139Arg) in 2 inviduals and NM_004408.4: c.545 C>A(P. Ala 182Asp)in 1 invidual of DNM1 gene were identified by gene testing. After follow-up at age of 2~3 years, all patients were presented with hypotonia, severe intellectual disability, non-verbal, non-ambulatory, drug-resistant epilepsy and feeding difficulties. 36 cases with pathogenic DNM1 variants were reported by far, totally 39 cases were included. Of the 39 patients, hypotonia were found to be independent of the locus of genetic variants, while those inviduals with variants in the GTPase and middle domains almost presented severe or profound intellectual disability and epilepsy. 31 patients diagnosed with epilepsy and complete clinical data were further analyzed, epileptic spasm was the most common types of seizure. Absent seizure was significantly more common in those patients with variants in the GTPase domains (P=0.02), compared to those patients with variants in the middle domains. No statistical differences were found in gender, onset age, other types of seizure and drug treatment response between variants in the GTPase and middle domains.ConclusionHypotonia, early onset epilepsy, severe intellectual and movement disability were the common features in patients with DMN1 related encephalopathy. Epileptic spasm was the most common types of seizure, no significant differences were found in the phenotype between the GTPase and middle domains expect for absent seizure. Our patients also presented with feeding difficulties.
ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical electrophysiological characteristics of Cyclin-dependent kinase-like 5 gene induced developmental epileptic encephalopathy (CDKL5-DEE). MethodsThe clinical data and series of video EEGs of children with CDKL5-associated developmental epileptic encephalopathy (CDKL5-DEE) who were admitted to the Children’s Medical Center of Peking University First Hospital from June 2016 to May 2024 were retrospectively analyzed. Results A total of 16 patients with CDKL5-DEE were enrolled, including 13 females and 3 males. All patients had de novo variants of CDKL5 gene, including 6 cases of missense variants, 5 cases of frameshift variants, 4 cases of nonsense variants, and 1 case of large fragment deletion. The age of onset was 8 days (d) after birth ~1 year (y) and 10 months (m), and the median age was (85.94±95.76) days. Types of seizures at onset: 4 cases of tonic seizures [age of onset 10~52 days, median age (25.5±15.84) days]; There were 5 cases of focal seizures [age of onset 8 d~8 m, median age (77.76±85.97) d]. There were 4 cases of epileptic spasmodic seizures [age of onset 3 m~1 y 10 m, median age (6.25±3.49) m]; There were 2 cases of bilateral tonic-clonic seizures [age of onset 30~40 days, median age (35.00±5.00) days]; focal concurrent epileptic spasm seizures 1 case (age of onset 2 m). A total of 59 VEEG sessions were performed in the pediatric EEG room of Peking University First Hospital for 4 hours. All the results were abnormal, including 26 normal background, 25 slow rhythm difference with background, and 8 no background. The interictal was 16 posterior or focal discharges, 19 multifocal discharges, 17 generalized or accompanied by focal/multifocal discharges, and 7 hypsarrhythmia; The ictal was 33 epileptic seizures, 6 myoclonic seizures, 5 focal seizures, 2 tonic-clonic seizures, 2 atypical absence seizures, 2 tonic seizures, 1 myoclonic sequential focal seizure, 1 focal sequential epileptic spasm, and 1 hypermotor-tonic-spasms. The background of patients within 6 months of age was normal, and the background abnormality increased significantly with age. generalized discharges are evident after 2 years of age between seizures. Conclusion CDKL5-DEE seizures have an early onset and are refractory to medications. Epileptic spasms are the most common type of seizure in every patient and long-lasting, with generalized seizures increasing markedly with age. EEG is characterized by a normal background within 6 months. With the increase of age, the background and interictal discharges have a tendency to deteriorate.