Tumor-associated epilepsy and glioma: Are there common genetic pathways?

Background. Patients with glioma exhibit a great variability in clinical symptoms apart from variations in response to therapy and survival. Many patients present with epileptic seizures at disease onset, especially in case of low-grade gliomas, but not all have seizures. A large proportion of patie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Acta oncologica 2009, Vol.48 (7), p.955-963
Main Authors: Berntsson, Shala Ghaderi, Malmer, Beatrice, Bondy, Melissa L., Qu, Mingqi, Smits, Anja
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brain Neoplasms - complications
Brain Neoplasms - genetics
Epilepsies, Partial - etiology
Epilepsies, Partial - genetics
Genetic Linkage
Genetic Predisposition to Disease
Glioma - complications
Glioma - genetics
Humans
MEDICIN
Medicin och hälsovetenskap
MEDICINE
Neurologi
Neurology
Polymorphism, Genetic
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Summary:Background. Patients with glioma exhibit a great variability in clinical symptoms apart from variations in response to therapy and survival. Many patients present with epileptic seizures at disease onset, especially in case of low-grade gliomas, but not all have seizures. A large proportion of patients develop refractory seizures. It is likely that the variability in epileptic symptoms cannot exclusively be explained by tumor-related factors, but rather reflects complex interaction between tumor-related, environmental and hereditary factors. Material and methods. No data exist on susceptibility genes associated with epileptic symptoms in patients with glioma. However, an increasing number of candidate genes have been proposed for other focal epilepsies such as temporal lobe epilepsy. Some of the susceptibility candidate genes associated with focal epilepsy may contribute to epileptic symptoms also in patients with glioma. Results. This review presents an update on studies on genetic polymorphisms and focal epilepsy and brings forward putative candidate genes for tumor-associated epilepsy, based on the assumption that common etiological pathways may exist for glioma development and glioma-associated seizures. Conclusion. Genes involved in the immune response, in synaptic transmission and in cell cycle control are discussed that may play a role in the pathogenesis of tumor growth as well as epileptic symptoms in patients with gliomas.
ISSN:0284-186X
1651-226X
1651-226X
DOI:10.1080/02841860903104145