The signal pathway involved in the body’s defense against pathogens is also involved in the course of epilepsy, Italian scientists report in the journal Nature Medicine. Their discovery has the potential to contribute to the development of new anticonvulsants.
Brain inflammation is one of the factors that play a role in the development of epilepsy, but the influence of specific pro-inflammatory molecules on the course of the disease has not been fully investigated so far.
Annamaria Vezzani and a team from the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan have studied several types of mice that are animal models of epilepsy and found that a protein called HMGB1 released by neurons and glial cells interacts with a major immune system receptor, TLR4, and causes seizures.
The researchers also found that blocking the interaction between the HMGB1 protein and TLR4 reduces seizure frequency and that TLR4 knockout mice are resistant to seizure-inducing treatments. It has been observed that the tissues of patients suffering from epilepsy have elevated levels of HMGB1 and TLR4 proteins, suggesting that a similar mechanism works in humans (PAP).