Mutations in neuronal voltage-gated sodium channel genes SCN1A, SCN2A, and SCN3A may play an important role in the etiology of neurological diseases and psychiatric disorders, besides various types of epilepsy. Here we describe a 3-year-old boy with autistic features, language delay, microcephaly and no history of seizures. Array-CGH analysis revealed an interstitial deletion of ~291.9kB at band 2q24.3 disrupting the entire SCN2A gene and part of SCN3A. We discuss the effects of haploinsufficiency of SCN2A and SCN3A on the genetic basis of neurodevelopmental and neurobehavioral disorders and we propose that this haploinsufficiency may be associated not only with epilepsy, but also with autistic features.
Keywords: Array-CGH; Autistic features; Comparative-Genomic-Hybridization; EEG; Electroencephalography; Interstitial 2q24.3 deletion; Microcephaly; SCN1A; SCN2A; SCN2A and SCN3A genes; SCN3A; sodium channel, voltage-gated, type I, alpha subunit; sodium channel, voltage-gated, type II, alpha subunit; sodium channel, voltage-gated, type III, alpha subunit.
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