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Updated: Nov 12, 2025

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Published on: May 16, 2019
The role of inflammatory mediators in epilepsy: Focus on developmental and epileptic encephalopathies and therapeutic
Alessandro Orsini1, Thomas Foiadelli2, Giorgio Costagliola1
1Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Section of Pediatrics, University of Pisa, Via Roma 67, 56126 Pisa, Italy.
Abstract:
In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the potential involvement of neuroinflammation in the pathogenesis of epilepsy. Specifically, the role of innate immunity (that includes cytokines and chemokines) has been extensively investigated either in animal models of epilepsy and in clinical settings. Developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEE) are a heterogeneous group of epileptic disorders, in which uncontrolled epileptic activity results in cognitive, motor and behavioral impairment. By definition, epilepsy in DEE is poorly controlled by common antiepileptic drugs but may respond to alternative treatments, including steroids and immunomodulatory drugs. In this review, we will focus on how cytokines and chemokines play a role in the pathogenesis of DEE and why expanding our knowledge about the role of neuroinflammation in DEE may be crucial to develop new and effective targeted therapeutic strategies to prevent seizure recurrence and developmental regression.
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