A study of novel proteins and pathways in epilepsy
Research type
Research Study
Full title
AN INVESTIGATION OF NOVEL PROTEINS AND BIOMARKERS IN SURGICALLY-RESECTED TISSUE FROM PATIENTS WITH EPILEPSY
IRAS ID
144065
Contact name
Arjune Sen
Contact email
Research summary
Epilepsy is a common and serious neurological disease, accounting for approximately 1% of the total days lost due to ill health worldwide (WHO, 2011). In the United Kingdom, there are approximately 600,000 patients with epilepsy. Modern anti-epileptic medications render approximately 70% of patients free with relatively few side effects. However, in pharmacoresistant cases, the burden of epilepsy is not confined to seizures alone; rather it includes associated co-morbidities, particularly psychosocial problems and cognitive difficulties. In adults, the most common cause of pharmacoresistant epilepsy is hippocampal sclerosis (HS), a condition that may be amenable to surgical resection. Histologically, HS is characterised by gliosis and segmental neuronal loss While it is likely that this neuronal loss contributes to both the epilepsy and the cognitive deficits in HS, the molecular basis for the neuronal loss remains uncertain. Similarly, the pathological basis for other causes of epilepsy amenable to surgical resection also remain poorly understood.
The principal aim of the current study is to use anatomical, biochemical and electrophysiological methods to better determine which proteins may be important in contributing to neuronal loss and epileptogenesis. In particular we are keen to investigate whether changes in the N-Methyl-D-Aspartate receptor (NMDAr) contribute to epileptogenesis, NMDA receptors being the most important receptor for the main excitatory neurotransmitter, glutamate.
The study will be conducted at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and will involve experimental analysis of tissue acquired prospectively and retrospectively tissue from patients with pharmacoresistant epilepsy
Improved understanding of the causes of neuronal loss in HS and the molecular basis of other focal epilepsies may offer new therapeutic opportunities for those patients who are not suitable for operative intervention and also those patients in whom cognitive deficits persist, or develop, post-operatively.
REC name
East of England - Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EE/1098
Date of REC Opinion
18 Aug 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion