title: Chromosome 18 aberrations and epilepsy: a review.
abstract: Epilepsy is commonly observed in patients with chromosomal aberrations. We evaluated epilepsy and electroencephalographic (EEG) features in a group of patients carrying aberrations of chromosome 18. Fourteen patients were recruited: five with an 18p deletion syndrome (18pDS); six with an 18q deletion syndrome (18qDS); two with trisomy 18p syndrome; and one with a 45,XY,t(17-18) (cen-q11.2) karyotype. Patients with 18pDS had neither epilepsy nor EEG anomalies; four patients with 18qDS had epilepsy with partial seizures occurring during infancy or early childhood. Partial seizures were also present in both patients with trisomy 18p. By contrast, mixed seizures were observed in the patient carrying a translocation between chromosomes 17 and 18. Our data and a re-evaluation of the literature suggest that epilepsy is infrequent in patients with 18pDS. Conversely, partial seizures and focal EEG anomalies may be observed in those with patients with 18qDS. Our observations suggest that the haplo-insufficiency of genes located on the long arm of chromosome 18 is more likely to be associated with epilepsy, than is haplo-insufficiency of genes located on the short arm. While further EEG/clinical investigations are needed to validate these observations, this study indicates a possible relationship between chromosome 18 genes and epilepsy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Siena, Siena, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grosso
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pucci
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Di Bartolo
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gobbi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bartalini
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Anichini
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Scarinci
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Balestri
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Farnetani
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cioni
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Morgese
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Balestri
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D002871:Chromosome Banding; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D002886:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 17 / Q000235:genetics; D002887:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 18 / Q000235:genetics*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007621:Karyotyping; D008297:Male; D012196:Review Literature as Topic; D013577:Syndrome; D014178:Translocation, Genetic; D014314:Trisomy