Defective lipid signalling caused by mutations in PIK3C2B underlies focal epilepsy

Epilepsy is one of the most frequent neurological diseases, with focal epilepsy accounting for the largest number of cases. The genetic alterations involved in focal epilepsy are far from being fully elucidated. Here, we show that defective lipid signalling caused by heterozygous ultra-rare variants in PIK3C2B, encoding for the class II phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase PI3K-C2 beta, underlie focal epilepsy in humans. We demonstrate that patients' variants act as loss-of-function alleles, leading to impaired synthesis of the rare signalling lipid phosphatidylinositol 3,4-bisphosphate, resulting in mTORC1 hyperactivation. In vivo, mutant Pik3c2b alleles caused dose-dependent neuronal hyperexcitability and increased seizure susceptibility, indicating haploinsufficiency as a key driver of disease. Moreover, acute mTORC1 inhibition in mutant mice prevented experimentally induced seizures, providing a potential therapeutic option for a selective group of patients with focal epilepsy. Our findings reveal an unexpected role for class II PI3K-mediated lipid signalling in regulating mTORC1-dependent neuronal excitability in mice and humans. Gozzelino et al. show that defective lipid signalling caused by heterozygous ultra-rare variants in PIK3C2B gives rise to focal epilepsy via mTOR hyperactivation. In vivo, mutant Pik3c2b alleles cause dose-dependent neuronal hyperexcitability and increased seizure susceptibility, identifying haploinsufficiency as a key driver of disease.

Automated summary

This study reveals that defective lipid signalling caused by ultra-rare variants in the PIK3C2B gene is associated with focal epilepsy. The variants in patients act as loss-of-function alleles, leading to impaired synthesis of a specific signalling lipid and resulting in mTORC1 hyperactivation. In mutant mice, these variants cause neuronal hyperexcitability and increased seizure susceptibility, highlighting haploinsufficiency as a key driver of disease.