Objective: Perampanel, an antiseizure drug with αamino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor antagonist properties, may have a targeted effect in genetic epilepsies with overwhelming glutamate receptor activation.Epilepsies with loss of γaminobutyric acid inhibition (e.g., SCN1A), overactive excitatory neurons (e.g., SCN2A, SCN8A), and variants in glutamate receptors (e.g., GRIN2A) hold special interest. We aimed to collect data from a large rare ge-
Familial adult myoclonus epilepsy (FAME) is a genetic condition characterized by the occurrence of cortical tremor, myoclonus, and epilepsy. To date, there is neither a curative nor a preventive treatment for FAME. Clinical management is essentially symptomatic and based on antiseizure medications (ASMs). The choice of the correct therapeutic option is limited to ASMs that have both an antiseizure and an antimyoclonic effect, such as valproate, levetiracetam, benzodiazepines, and perampanel. However, these medications control seizures well while having a limited effect on myoclonus and cortical tremor. In addition, many ASMs, including sodium channel blockers and gabapentin, are contraindicated in this condition. The ideal therapeutic option would be a precision treatment able to revert the genetic defect underlying it. Nevertheless, this does not seem to be an option that will be available soon.
NAA20 is the catalytic subunit of the NatB complex, which is responsible for N‐terminal acetylation of approximately 20% of the human proteome. Recently, pathogenic biallelic variants in NAA20 were associated with a novel neurodevelopmental disorder in five individuals with limited clinical information. We report two sisters harboring compound heterozygous variant (c.100C>T (p.Gln34Ter) and c.11T>C p.(Leu4Pro)) in the NAA20 gene, identified by exome sequencing. In vitro studies showed that the missense variant p.Leu4Pro resulted in a reduction of NAA20 catalytic activity due to weak coupling with the NatB auxiliary subunit. In addition, unpublished data of the previous families were reported, outlining the core phenotype of the NAA20‐related disorder mostly characterized by cognitive impairment, microcephaly, ataxia, brain malformations, dysmorphism and variable occurrence of cardiac defect and epilepsy. Remarkably, our two patients featured epilepsy onset in adolescence suggesting this may be a part of syndrome evolution. Functional studies are needed to better understand the complexity of NAA20 variants pathogenesis as well as of other genes linked to N‐terminal acetylation.
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