National Center for Advancing and Translational Sciences Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center, a program of the National Center for Advancing and Translational Sciences

GNAO1 encephalopathy



Other Names:
Early infantile epileptic encephalopathy-17
This disease is grouped under:

GNAO1 encephalopathy is a rare neurologic disorder that causes developmental delay, early infantile seizures, and abnormal movements. Specific symptoms may include seizures that start early in childhood, severe intellectual disability, poor muscle tone (hypotonia), irregular muscle contractions (chorea), and involuntary movements of the face and tongue (dyskinesia).[1][2] The severity of symptoms can vary. Symptoms may be triggered by strong emotions, illness, and purposeful movements.[2] GNAO1 encephalopathy is caused by mutations in the GNAO1 gene and inheritance is autosomal dominant.[3][4] Treatment aims to relieve individual symptoms and may not be effective for all people. In some cases, movement disorders have improved after the placement of a deep brain stimulator (DBS) device. Some have had improvement of seizures with anti-seizure medications or with a ketogenic diet, but others have not. While the long-term outcome has not been well-studied, the disease is typically very severe, with some people losing their motor skills in the early stages of the disease.[1]
Last updated: 10/3/2017

This table lists symptoms that people with this disease may have. For most diseases, symptoms will vary from person to person. People with the same disease may not have all the symptoms listed. This information comes from a database called the Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) . The HPO collects information on symptoms that have been described in medical resources. The HPO is updated regularly. Use the HPO ID to access more in-depth information about a symptom.

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Medical Terms Other Names
Learn More:
HPO ID
5%-29% of people have these symptoms
Athetosis
Involuntary writhing movements in fingers, hands, toes, and feet
0002305
Chorea 0002072
Dystonia 0001332
Percent of people who have these symptoms is not available through HPO
Absent speech
Absent speech development
Lack of language development
Lack of speech
No speech development
No speech or language development
Nonverbal
[ more ]
0001344
Autosomal dominant inheritance 0000006
Cerebral atrophy
Degeneration of cerebrum
0002059
Delayed myelination 0012448
Epileptic encephalopathy 0200134
Generalized tonic seizure 0010818
Global developmental delay 0001263
Hypoplasia of the corpus callosum
Underdevelopment of part of brain called corpus callosum
0002079
Hypsarrhythmia 0002521
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Last updated: 7/1/2020

If you need medical advice, you can look for doctors or other healthcare professionals who have experience with this disease. You may find these specialists through advocacy organizations, clinical trials, or articles published in medical journals. You may also want to contact a university or tertiary medical center in your area, because these centers tend to see more complex cases and have the latest technology and treatments.

If you can’t find a specialist in your local area, try contacting national or international specialists. They may be able to refer you to someone they know through conferences or research efforts. Some specialists may be willing to consult with you or your local doctors over the phone or by email if you can't travel to them for care.

You can find more tips in our guide, How to Find a Disease Specialist. We also encourage you to explore the rest of this page to find resources that can help you find specialists.

Healthcare Resources


Support and advocacy groups can help you connect with other patients and families, and they can provide valuable services. Many develop patient-centered information and are the driving force behind research for better treatments and possible cures. They can direct you to research, resources, and services. Many organizations also have experts who serve as medical advisors or provide lists of doctors/clinics. Visit the group’s website or contact them to learn about the services they offer. Inclusion on this list is not an endorsement by GARD.

Organizations Supporting this Disease

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These resources provide more information about this condition or associated symptoms. The in-depth resources contain medical and scientific language that may be hard to understand. You may want to review these resources with a medical professional.

In-Depth Information

  • Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) is a catalog of human genes and genetic disorders. Each entry has a summary of related medical articles. It is meant for health care professionals and researchers. OMIM is maintained by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. 

Questions sent to GARD may be posted here if the information could be helpful to others. We remove all identifying information when posting a question to protect your privacy. If you do not want your question posted, please let us know.


  1. Danti FR, Galosi S, Romani M, et al. GNAO1 encephalopathy: Broadening the phenotype and evaluating treatment and outcome. Neurology: Genetics. 2017; 3(2):143. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5362187/.
  2. Marcé-Grau A, Dalton J, López-Pisón J, et al. GNAO1 encephalopathy: further delineation of a severe neurodevelopmental syndrome affecting females. Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases. 2016; 11:38. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4830060/.
  3. Feng H, Sjögren B, Karaj B, Shaw V, Gezer A & Neubig RR. Movement disorder in GNAO1 encephalopathy associated with gain-of-function mutations. Neurology. August 22, 2017; 89(8):762-770. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28747448.
  4. About GNAO1. The Bow Foundation. https://gnao1.org/.