HUMAN-LEUKOCYTE ANTIGEN STUDIES IN INDIAN PROBANDS WITH SEIZURES ASSOCIATED WITH SINGLE SMALL ENHANCING COMPUTED-TOMOGRAPHY LESIONS AND SEIZURE TYPES IN THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS

We report the preliminary results of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) cla ss I typing in 63 Indian probands with the syndrome of seizures associ ated with single, small, enhancing computed tomography (CT) lesions (S SEL) and the occurrence of seizure types among their family members. S ixteen of the 63 (25%) probands had a positive family history of seizu res among the first- and second-degree relatives. There were 9 sibs, 3 parents, and 12 second-degree relatives among the 24 affected family members. The majority of affected relatives (21 of 24) were examined; epilepsy with generalized tonic-clonic seizures (EGTCs) was the common est seizure type in 10 (42%), and febrile convulsions (FC), SSEL, epil epsy with secondarily generalized seizures (SGE), and single seizures were noted in 2 (8%), 4 (17%), 3 (13%), and 2 (8%) relatives, respecti vely. The frequency of HLA-A11 was decreased (p < 0.05) whereas that o f HLA-B 63 (p < 0.05) and HLA-B 58 (p < 0.025) was increased in proban ds as compared with healthy controls. These values were not significan t after correction factor for p-value was applied. Our study suggests that many cases with the syndrome of SSEL exist in a subset of an Indi an population that may be genetically predisposed to seizures. It is L ikely that some of these Indian patients with SSEL have art inherited predilection for seizures and are also genetically susceptible to some infection or infestation. (C) 1997 by Elsevier Science Inc.