Novel KCNH1 Mutations Associated with Epilepsy: Broadening the Phenotypic Spectrum of KCNH1-Associated Diseases

Here, we describe four patients suffering from a rather broad spectrum of epilepsy-related disorders, ranging from developmental and epileptic encephalopathy with intellectual disability (DEE) to genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE), which all harbor novel KCNH1 mutations. In one family, we found a weak association of a novel nonsense mutation with epilepsy, suggesting reduced penetrance, and which shows, in agreement with previous findings, that gain-of-function effects rather than haploinsufficiency are important for the pathogenicity of mutations. De novo missense variants in the pore region of the channel result in severe phenotypes presenting usually with DEE with various malformations. The potential pathogenicity of a novel KCNH1 germline mutation located outside of the critical pore domain observed in a GGE patient with a milder phenotype is supported by the fact that the very same amino acid exchange was detected as a somatic mutation in the resected brain tissue of a patient suffering from a focal cortical dysplasia type IIb. Thus, our case series broadens the phenotypic spectrum of KCNH1-associated diseases.