Proteins Linked to Epilepsy May Lead to new Drug Targets

 In a study of adult brain tissue over 900 proteins were found associated with epilepsy. The study showed altered levels of brain proteins predominated in the hippocampus. In the brain tissue samples examined, 134 proteins were significantly changed in both the hippocampus and frontal cortex. The changes in proteins were mostly tied to genes in charge of protein production and linked to epilepsy based on the data from smaller studies, 4 of the 20 most-altered proteins found had never previously been associated with epilepsy.

The study examined molecular differences among the brain tissue from of 14 individuals with epilepsy and from another group of 14 adults of similar age and gender who did not have epilepsy. The G Protein subunit 1 (GNB1) was the most significantly depleted in the brains examined. The protein is important in many biologic reactions involved in nerve growth and communication throughout the brain, but the role in epilepsy remains unclear.

"Our analysis identifies hundreds of potential new treatment targets for epilepsy, focusing on areas of the brain mostly damaged by the disease," says study cosenior investigator Orrin Devinsky, MD, a professor in the departments of Neurology, Neuroscience and Physiology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry at NYU Langone Health.

"While our results point to the hippocampus as the brain region most vulnerable in epilepsy, further research is needed to confirm if this region is the primary source of the illness from which damage spreads out across other brain regions, as well as how epilepsy is mutually tied to other disorders, such as dementia and depression," says Devinsky, who also serves as director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at NYU Langone.

"Of particular interest, these findings suggest that the G Protein subunit 1 brain pathways are a strong target for new epilepsy therapies," says study cosenior author Thomas Wisniewski, MD.