New and Noteworthy Information—June 2017

Park EH, Madsen JR. Granger causality analysis of interictal iEEG predicts seizure focus and ultimate resection. Neurosurgery. 2017 May 2 [Epub ahead of print].

Tourette Disorder Risk Genes Identified

Researchers have identified the first risk gene for Tourette disorder and three other probable risk genes, according to a study published May 3 in Neuron. Researchers analyzed genomic data from 311 trios of children with Tourette disorder and their parents. Data were collected by the Tourette International Collaborative Genetics group. The authors found strong evidence that variants of WWC1 can play a significant role in triggering the disorder. Investigators conducted a replication study in 173 trios and found the same results. Extrapolating from the number of de novo variants, investigators estimated that approximately 12% of Tourette disorder cases are likely to involve de novo variants. The genes CELSR3, NIPBL, and FN1 were identified as having at least 70% probability of contributing to Tourette disorder.

Willsey AJ, Fernandez TV, Yu D, et al. De novo coding variants are strongly associated with Tourette disorder. Neuron. 2017;94(3):486-499.

—Kimberly Williams