Polymorphisms of the SCN1A gene in children and adolescents with primary headache and idiopathic or cryptogenic epilepsy: is there a linkage?

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the distribution of the polymorphisms of the SCN1A gene in a series of children and adolescents with primary headache and idiopathic or cryptogenic epilepsy compared to controls. Five non-synonymous exonic polymorphisms (1748A ( T, 2656T ( C, 3199A ( G, 5771G ( A, 5864T ( C) of the SCN1A gene were selected and their genotyping was performed, by high resolution melting (HRM), in 49 cases and 100 controls. We found that among the five poly- morphisms, only 3199A ( G was a true polymorphism. We did not find a statistically significant difference between distribution of 3199A ( G genotypes between cases and controls. We excluded the role of the SCN1A gene in the pathogenesis of comorbidity between headache (especially migraine) and epilepsy. The SCN1A gene is a major gene in different epilepsies and epilepsy syndromes; the HRM could be the new methodology, more rapid and efficacious, for molecular analysis of the SCN1A gene.