Epilepsy and the Wnt Signaling Pathway

Abstract

Epileptogenesis is a gradual process by which normal brain transforms into one that sustains seizures. It is instigated by an inciting event (e.g. prolonged seizure called status epilepticus (SE), head injury, infection or stroke). This is followed by a variable (months to years in humans) latent period followed by the emergence of spontaneous seizures, with potential for later mood and learning disabilities. While the latent period is a time during which behavioral seizures are not observed, it is a period of tissue and cellular remodeling that sets up the development of chronic seizure activity, or epilepsy. In this grant, we have drawn expertise from other fields to discover new mechanistic insights into epileptogenesis. In the past year, we have expanded our understanding of molecular mechanisms and uncovered new possible insights for therapeutics with a drug combination that we had been developing for breast cancer treatment. Surprisingly, the combination attenuates seizures in two different models of temporal lobe epilepsy.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2015
Accession Number
AD1007234

Entities

People

  • Amy S. Yee

Organizations

  • Tufts University School of Medicine

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Anticonvulsants
  • Brain
  • Breast Cancer
  • Chemical Synthesis
  • Chemistry
  • Diseases And Disorders
  • Epilepsy
  • Genetics
  • Medical Personnel
  • Neoplasms
  • Neurosciences
  • Seizures
  • Stem Cells
  • Therapy

Fields of Study

  • Biology
  • Medicine

Readers

  • Neurotoxicology
  • Neurotrauma and Rehabilitation Medicine.
  • Oncology (Cancer Research).