CURE Epilepsy Discovery: A Novel Molecule as a Biomarker of and Treatment for Epilepsy

• CURE Epilepsy Taking Flight Award grantee Dr. Gary Brennan and colleagues used three different, well-established rodent models of acquired epilepsy to identify biomarkers for both diagnosing active epilepsy and for predicting who might develop epilepsy after a brain injury. 
• The team found that a family of small molecules known as microRNAs (miRNAs)[1], which are important in regulating gene expression and brain activity, were altered in rodent models of acquired epilepsy.
• Three of the five identified miRNAs were also present in blood samples taken from epilepsy patients, thereby validating their relevance to human epilepsy.
• Administration of a molecule known as Ant-134, which has been previously shown to reduce seizure frequency in different animal models, affected the levels of three of the five miRNAs in rodent models of acquired epilepsy in the current study.
• These preliminary data suggest that circulating miRNAs may represent biomarkers that can accurately diagnose epilepsy and predict who may develop it after a brain injury. Additional steps to validate these miRNAs as biomarkers of acquired epilepsy are needed.

Epilepsy is often "acquired" by injuries to the brain such as those resulting from a stroke, head trauma, or infection. There is currently no way of reliably predicting who will develop epilepsy following these types of injuries [2]. Thus, it would be valuable to have a stable, readily accessible substance (in the blood, for example) to assist with diagnosis, treatment, and epilepsy prediction following a head injury for people at risk. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), small molecules that have been implicated in the development of epilepsy [3], may make ideal biomarkers due to their relatively high concentrations in the blood. CURE Epilepsy Taking Flight Award grantee Dr. Brennan investigated whether miRNAs might be used as biomarkers of acquired epilepsy.