International study yields important clues to the genetics of epilepsy

(McGill University) An international team of researchers has discovered a significant genetic component of Idiopathic Generalized Epilepsy, the most common form of epilepsy. Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by sudden, uncontrolled electrical discharges in the brain expressed as a seizure. The new research, published in this week's issue of EMBO Reports, implicates a mutation in the gene for a protein, known as cotransporter KCC2.