Severe Epilepsy and Movement Disorder May Be Early Symptoms of TMEM106B-Related Hypomyelinating Leukodystrophy.

OBJECTIVE

To report the clinical presentation of the first Italian child affected by hypomyelinating leukodystrophy (HLD) associated with the recurrent variant p.Asp252Asn in the TMEM106B gene.

METHODS

The methods included clinical case description, neurophysiologic assessment, brain MRI, and whole-exome sequencing (WES).

RESULTS

The child presented soon after birth with nystagmus and hyperkinetic movement disorder. Focal seizures appeared from 2 months of age and recurred at high frequency, despite several antiseizure medications, and focal epileptic status frequently required IV phenytoin. Control of seizures was achieved at the age of 8 months by the association of high doses of sodium blockers. Clinical picture worsened over time and was characterized by axial hypotonia, failure to thrive requiring gastrostomy, pyramidal sings, and severe secondary microcephaly. MRI performed at ages 2, 6, and 20 months showed diffuse supratentorial and subtentorial hypomyelination; multimodal evoked potentials showed increased latency. WES performed at 6 months of age identified the p.Asp252Asn de novo variant in the TMEM106B gene.

DISCUSSION: Hyperkinetic movement disorders and seizures may be early symptoms of TMEM106B-HLD. Our observation, supported by video EEG recordings, emphasizes that seizures may be difficult to recognize from movement disorders and that epilepsy may be a severe and prominent symptom of the disease. TMEM106B-HLD should be considered in the genetic screening of infants with early-onset seizures and movement disorders.