Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder. People with epilepsy are prone to recurrent seizures that can occur at any time in life and whose severity may vary depending on age and affected brain areas. The estimated incidence of epilepsy in Europe is about 8 out of 1000 people. Acute inflammation resulting from common infections may increase the frequency of seizures in chronic epileptic patients.
A study authored by Sacha Genovesi and Yuri Bozzi from the Centre for Integrative Biology (CIBIO) of the University of Trento, in collaboration with researchers of the group led by Matteo Caleo at the CNR Neuroscience Institute in Pisa, shows for the first time the key role of a protein of the chemokine family, called CCL2, in the occurrence of seizures triggered by systemic body inflammation. This study opens the way to novel therapeutic strategies against epilepsy.
“So far – Bozzi and Caleo explain – we knew that epileptic seizures increase the production of CCL2 both in the blood and in the brain, but nothing was known about the causal role of CCL2 in the onset of seizures. Our study shows that CCL2 has a seizure-promoting effect, and that by blocking its production and action in the brain we can lower the number and frequency of seizures following acute inflammation. To block CCL2 we can both use drugs already available on the market and test new ones”.
The researchers’ study on the seizure-promoting effect of the chemokine CCL2 was published today on the American “Journal of Neuroscience” with the title “The chemokine CCL2 mediates the seizure enhancing effects of systemic inflammation”.
The study was carried out in collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Angelini, that provided the authors with bindarit, a molecule developed by Angelini that is able to inhibit the production of CCL2. Matteo Caleo (researcher at the CNR Neuroscience Institute in Pisa) and Yuri Bozzi (professor of Physiology at the University of Trento and head of the Molecular Neuropathology Laboratory at CIBIO, and researcher at the CNR Neuroscience Institute) are the senior authors of the study. First authors are Chiara Cerri (CNR Neuroscience Institute, Pisa and Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Roma) and Sacha Genovesi (CIBIO, University of Trento).