Personalized Medicine in Neurology

Philadelphia, PA—Genomic sequenc­ing is starting to yield progress in unraveling the genetics of select forms of epilepsy, with some immediate clinical implications, said David B. Goldstein, PhD, Professor of Molecular Genetics, Microbiology, and Biology, and Director of the Center for Human Genome Variation, Duke University, Durham, NC, at the 2014 meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.

Philadelphia, PA—Molecular subtyping and classification of patients for the selection of appropriate treatment and prognosis can now be used in routine clinical care in neurology, according to Teri Manolio, MD, PhD, Director, Division of Genomic Medicine, National Human Genome Research Institute, Rockville, MD, at the 2014 American Academy of Neurology meeting.

The varied genetic causes of progressive myoclonic epilepsies (PMEs) are becoming better understood through genetic analyses. A team of Italian researchers recently contributed to the understanding of these rare diseases by defining the clinical spectrum and etiology of PMEs, using a database developed by the Genetics Commission of the Italian League against Epilepsy.

A newly released study has found a set of 10 lipids from peripheral blood that can predict a neurodegenerative process that may be linked to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or other types of cognitive impairment using a blood test to identify these biomarkers.

A new study by a team of researchers led by Bruce A. Yankner, MD, PhD, Professor of Genetics and Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Director of the Harvard Neurodegeneration Training Program, and Codirector of the Paul F. Glenn Laboratories for the Molecular Biology of Aging, has found that a gene regulating protein known as REST...