Evaluation of DNA damage and mutation screening of exon 26 of SCN1A gene in patients with epilepsy

Background Epilepsy is one of the most prevalent neurological disorders. Around 50 million people worldwide suffer from Epilepsy, 85% of them are from the developing countries. It is a most significant as well as common brain disorder worldwide. Sodium channel alpha 1 subunit gene (SCN1A) is most commonly mutated the gene in different forms of epilepsy.

Objective To screen the genomic damage and SCN1A gene mutation in patients with epilepsy.

Methods To screen the genetic instability of SCN1A gene using Buccal micronucleus cytome (BMCyt) assay and molecular analysis with Single Strand Conformation Polymorphism (SSCP) technique was used to observe the variations in SCN1A gene.

Results We found significant differences in buccal cells of patients than controls. So, we can interpret that BMCyt assay would be a minimally invasive biomarker to detect DNA damage and mutation screening in the SCN1A gene with SSCP technique showed no variation in epileptic patients.

Conclusion These data confirmed that there is certainly DNA damage and no mutations in the SCN1A gene; hence the genetic instability has occurred in epileptic patients.