Polymorphisms and Drug-Resistant Epilepsy in a Tunisian Population.

Background: Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders with about 30% treatment failure rate. An interindividual variations in efficacy of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) make the treatment of epilepsy challenging, which can be attributed to genetic factors such as ATP-Binding Cassette sub-family B, member1 () gene polymorphisms.

Objective: The main objective of the present study is to evaluate the association of C1236T, G2677T, and C3435T polymorphisms with treatment response among Tunisian epileptic patients.

EGFR mutation status in Tunisian non-small-cell lung cancer patients evaluated by mutation-specific immunohistochemistry.

Background: Screening mutations in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) to analyze non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) profile is the criterion to choose the best therapeutic strategy. New Oncology guidelines recommend EGFR mutation analysis before prescribing tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) treatment. Majority of lung cancer patients are diagnosed at advanced stages and generally only small biopsies materials are available for diagnostic and molecular characterization.

First case report of Cohen syndrome in the Tunisian population caused by VPS13B mutations.

Background: Cohen syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive developmental disorder that comprises variable clinical features counting developmental delay, pigmentary retinopathy, myopia, acquired microcephaly, truncal obesity, joint hypermobility, friendly disposition and intermittent neutropenia. VPS13B (vacuolar protein sorting 13, yeast, homologue of B) gene is the only gene responsible for Cohen Syndrome, causative mutations include nonsense, missense, indel and splice-site variants. The integrity of the Golgi apparatus requires the presence of the peripheral membrane protein VPS13B that have an essential function in intracellular protein transport and vesicle-mediated sorting.

Relationship between ABCB1 3435TT genotype and antiepileptic drugs resistance in Epilepsy: updated systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are effective medications available for epilepsy. However, many patients do not respond to this treatment and become resistant. Genetic polymorphisms may be involved in the variation of AEDs response.

Subtelomeric microduplications in three sisters with moderate mental retardation.

Copy number changes of subtelomeric regions are a common cause of mental retardation, occurring in approximately 5% of mentally retarded patients. New molecular techniques allow the identification of subtelomeric microduplications. We report a Tunisian family of three sisters with moderate mental retardation, facial dysmorphism, cardiopathy, and bilateral clinodactyly of the third and fourth toes, explored by MLPA, showing the same associated microduplications, 15q and Xq, without a concurrent deletion.

MLPA subtelomere analysis in Tunisian mentally retarded patients.

Subtelomeric rearrangements significantly contribute to idiopathic mental retardation and result in several mental retardation syndromes; however, most subtelomeric defects lack a characteristic phenotype. Thirty patients with unexplained mental retardation, a normal R banded karyotype at the 550 band, and no clinically recognizable syndrome were screened by Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA). Four anomalies were identified: deletion 17q, duplications (4q), and associated duplications 15q and Xq.

[Interest of studying subtelomeric abnormalities by in situ fluorescent hybridization to explore idiopathic mental retardation].

Nowadays, the genetic basis of mental retardation is a huge field of investigations. Genetic abnormalities frequently give rise to a mental retardation phenotype and are observed in 10 to 40% of known etiologies. New syndromes have identified (chromosome 1p, 22q, 3q29 and 9q34) but for 60% of patients there is no etiology because there is no characteristic phenotype.