Therapeutic implications of etiology-specific diagnosis of early-onset developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (EO-DEEs): A nationwide Turkish cohort study

Objective

To evaluate the etiology-specific diagnosis of early-onset developmental epileptic encephalopathies (EO-DEEs) in a nationwide Turkish cohort to determine the implications for therapeutic management.

Methods

The cohort comprised 1450 patients who underwent EO-DEE. The utility of genetic testing was assessed with respect to the initial phases of next generation sequencing (NGS) (2005–2013) and the current NGS era (2014–2022). A predefined four-stepwise diagnostic model was evaluated using cost-effectiveness analysis. The diagnostic and potential therapeutic yields of the genetic tests were subsequently determined.

Results

Gene-related EO-DEEs were identified in 48.3 % (n = 701) of the cohort: non-structural genetic (62.6 %), metabolic genetic (15.1 %), and structural genetic (14.1 %). The most common nonstructural genetic variants were SCN1A (n = 132, 18.8 %), CDKL5 (n = 30, 4.2 %), STXBP1 (n = 21, 2.9 %), KCNQ2 (n = 21, 2.9 %), and PCDH19 (n = 17, 2.4 %). The rate of ultra-rare variants (< 0.5 %) was higher in the NGS era (52 %) than that in the initial phase (36 %). The potential therapeutic yields with precision therapy and antiseizure drug modification were defined in 34.5 % and 56.2 % in genetic-EO-DEEs, respectively. The diagnostic model provided an etiology-specific diagnosis at a rate of 78.7 %: structural (nongenetic) (31.4 %), genetic (38.5 %), metabolic (6.1 %), and immune-infectious (2.8 %). Based on a cost-effectiveness analysis, the presented diagnostic model indicated the early implementation of whole-exome sequencing for EO-DEEs.

Significance

In the present cohort, the higher rate (48.3 %) of gene-related EO-DEE diagnoses in the NGS era provides a potential therapeutic management plan for more patients.