Epilepsy research
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Comparative Study
Suggestive evidence for association of two potassium channel genes with different idiopathic generalised epilepsy syndromes.
Several potassium channel genes have been implicated in epilepsy. We have investigated three such genes, KCNJ3, KCNJ6 and KCNQ2, by association studies using a broad sample of idiopathic generalised epilepsy (IGE) unselected by syndrome. One of the two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) examined in one of the inward rectifying potassium channel genes, KCNJ3, was associated with IGE by genotype (P=0.0097), while its association by allele was of borderline significance (P=0.051). ⋯ However, one SNP was associated with epilepsy with generalised tonic clonic seizures only (P=0.016), as was an SNP approximately 56 kb distant in the closely linked nicotinic acetylcholine gene CHRNA4 (P=0.014). These two SNPs were not in linkage disequilibrium with each other, suggesting that if they are not true associations they have independently occurred by chance. Neither association remains significant after correcting for multiple testing.