Epileptogenesis, traumatic brain injury, and biomarkers

Epilepsy is one of the most common brain disorders, causing serious disability and premature death worldwide. Approximately 1.2% of the U.S. population has active epilepsy, and 30 to 40% have seizures that do not respond to antiseizure drugs. There currently is no treatment available that prevents epilepsy following a potential epileptogenic insult, and the search for disease or syndrome modifying interventions for epilepsy is a high priority of neurobiological research. This requires better understanding of neuronal mechanisms underlying the development of epilepsy, and biomarkers of this process that would permit cost-effective drug discovery, and validation in clinical trials, for potential antiepileptogenic compounds. EpiBioS4Rx is an NIH-funded Center without Walls consisting of collaborative investigations in the United States, Europe, and Australia of traumatic brain injury in patients, and a standardized animal model, to identify biomarkers of epileptogenesis and to determine their ability to assess the effectiveness of potential antiepileptogenic agents. Successful completion of this project is expected to result in design of an economically feasible, full-scale clinical trial of at least one antiepileptogenic intervention.