Association of BDNF Polymorphisms with the Risk of Epilepsy: a Multicenter Study

• Published in: Molecular neurobiology 2016-07, Vol.53 (5), p.2869-2877
• Main Authors: Sha’ari, Hidayati Mohd, Haerian, Batoul Sadat, Baum, Larry, Tan, Hui Jan, Rafia, Mohd Hanip, Kwan, Patrick, Cherny, Stacey S., Sham, Pak Chung, Gui, Hongsheng, Raymond, Azman Ali, Lim, Kheng Seang, Mohamed, Zahurin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor - chemistry; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor - genetics; Case-Control Studies; Cell Biology; Demography; Epilepsy; Epilepsy - genetics; Female; Genetic Association Studies; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Health risk assessment; Hong Kong; Humans; Malaysia; Male; Neurobiology; Neurology; Neurosciences; Polymorphism; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide - genetics; Risk Factors
• ISSN: 0893-7648; 1559-1182
• DOI: 10.1007/s12035-015-9150-1

Epilepsy is a common neurological disease characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures. Evidence suggested that abnormal activity of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) contributes to the pathogenesis of epilepsy. Some previous studies identified association between genetic variants of BDNF and risk of epilepsy. In this study, this association has been examined in the Hong Kong and Malaysian epilepsy cohorts. Genomic DNA of 6047 subjects (1640 patients with epilepsy and 4407 healthy individuals) was genotyped for rs6265, rs11030104, rs7103411, and rs7127507 polymorphisms by using Sequenom MassArray and Illumina HumanHap 610-Quad or 550-Duo BeadChip arrays techniques. Results showed significant association between rs6265 T, rs7103411 C, and rs7127507 T and cryptgenic epilepsy risk ( p  = 0.00003, p  = 0.0002, and p  = 0.002, respectively) or between rs6265 and rs7103411 and symptomatic epilepsy risk in Malaysian Indians (TT vs. CC, p  = 0.004 and T vs. C, p  = 0.0002, respectively) as well as between rs6265 T and risk of cryptogenic epilepsy in Malaysian Chinese ( p  = 0.005). The T rs6265 -C rs7103411 -T rs7127507 was significantly associated with cryptogenic epilepsy in Malaysian Indians ( p  = 0.00005). In conclusion, our results suggest that BDNF polymorphisms might contribute to the risk of epilepsy in Malaysian Indians and Chinese.