Biomarkers in Neocortical Epileptic Tissue
<- Return to Search Page
- Categories
- Biotechnology, Diagnostics
- Summary
- Epilepsy, a disease of recurrent seizures that can develop after a wide range of brain insults, affects up to 1% of the population. While single gene defects are associated with some forms of epilepsy, these mutations do not account for the majority of affected patients. Those patients who do not respond to medications can benefit from removal of the brain regions in which the seizures originate. Little is known about how the often normal-appearing epileptic brain regions become and remain epileptic. The foci, regardless of original insult, show a similar pattern of localized, abnormal electrical discharges that become rhythmic and spread.
The inventors applied functional genomic methods to electronically mapped brain tissue.Microarray studies identified activity-dependent genes by comparing electrically active epileptic neocortex to control (normal) neocortex from the same patient. The approach reduced the effects of genetic heterogeneity, medications and anatomical locations. By comparing local gene expression changes within the same individual, the inventors were able to identify a small group of differentially expressed genes, which are a common link to an otherwise heterogeneous disease. Access to these markers overcomes one of the major limitations in developing treatments for patients with epilepsy, that is, the lack of specific targets. Whether the markers are the cause or the result of ongoing epileptic activity will require further research, however, their identification is clearly relevant for the human epileptic condition.
- File number
- 05-755
- Data
- Data is available upon completion of a confidentiality agreement.
- Publications
- Patentability is being assessed.
- Contact
- Randy Ramharack
Technology Licensing Manager
Phone: 313-577-5541
Fax : 313-577-2814
randy.ramharack@wayne.edu