Association of Nicotinamide-N-Methyltransferase Gene rs694539 Variant with Epilepsy

• DOI: 10.1007/s12035-015-9364-2
• Publication Date: 2015-07-27T03:33:29Z
• Authors: Gensay Sazci; Bilgen Sazci; Ali Sazci; Halil Atilla Idri...
• Keywords: Adult; Aged, 80 and over; Male; Epilepsy; Adolescent; Middle Aged; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; 3. Good health; Young Adult; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Gene Frequency; Case-Control Studies; Nicotinamide N-Methyltransferase; Humans; Female; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Child; Genetic Association Studies; Aged

Here, we report the association of the rs694539 variant of nicotinamide-N-methyltransferase gene with epilepsy in a case-control study of 215 patients with epilepsy and 239 healthy controls (χ (2) = 11.641, P = 0.003). The individuals with the GG genotype revealed protection against epilepsy (χ (2) = 5.866, P = 0.015, OR = 0.623, 95 % CI = 0.425-0.915), whereas the individuals with the AA genotype showed statistically significant increased risk for epilepsy (χ (2) = 8.676, P = 0.003, OR = 5.479, 95 % CI = 1.553-19.337). In addition, the G allele was protective against epilepsy (χ (2) = 8.676, P = 0.003, OR = 0.183, 95 % CI = 0.052-0.644); on the contrary, the A allele was a genetic risk factor for epilepsy (χ (2) = 5.866, P = 0.015, OR = 1.604, 95 % CI = 1.093-2.354). Stratification analysis revealed that the association was statistically significant in male patients with epilepsy (χ (2) = 6.682, P = 0.035). However, the statistical power was only 0.33 in female patients with epilepsy (χ (2) = 5.275, P = 0.072). This finding, for the first time, suggests the involvement of the NNMT gene rs694539 variant in the etiology of epilepsy.