Open AccessGRIN2A-Related Severe Epileptic Encephalopathy Treated with Memantine: An Example of Precision Medicine
Author(s) -
Ali Mir,
Mohammed S. Al Qahtani,
Shahid Bashir
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of pediatric genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2146-4596
pISSN - 2146-460X
DOI - 10.1055/s-0039-3401028
Subject(s) - memantine , medicine , epilepsy , nmda receptor , glutamate receptor , pharmacology , bioinformatics , receptor , psychiatry , biology
Epileptic spasm (ES) is one of the seizure types which is difficult to treat. Next-generation sequencing has facilitated rapid gene discovery that is linked to ES and GRIN2A being one of them. Genotype-driven precision medicine is on the horizon and is a targeted treatment approach toward the precise molecular cause of the disease. GRIN2A gene encodes for a subunit of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor and it has been suggested from in vitro studies and few case reports that memantine, a NMDA receptor antagonist, was shown to reduce seizures in patients with GRIN2A mutations. Here, we describe a patient with a novel GRIN2A mutation and severe drug-resistant ES who became seizure free with memantine.