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Published on: August 15, 2017
Elevated peripheral Neuregulin-1 protein levels in non-medicated focal epilepsy patients
Xin Zhao1, Guijiang Huang1, Yanbing Han2
1Department of Science and Education, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China.
Introduction:
The Neuregulin-1 (NRG-1) gene has been identified as a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia. Schizophrenia and epilepsy shared some common clinical manifestations and common pathogenesis. Therefore, it is necessary to explore whether there is a relationship between NRG-1 and epilepsy. This study aimed to investigate the expression level of NRG-1 in peripheral blood of non-medicated patients with first-onset focal epilepsy.
Methods:
A total of 83 non-medicated first-onset focal epilepsy patients and 80 healthy controls were involved in this study. Serum NRG-1 protein levels were determined by ELISA.
Results:
Compared to healthy controls (mean ± SD, 3.97 ± 2.37), NRG-1 protein levels were statistically significantly higher in patients (mean ± SD, 5.37 ± 3.48) (P = 0.006).
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest that NRG-1 protein may play a role in the pathogenesis of focal epilepsy, which provides insights into the search for epilepsy potential therapeutic markers and new drug treatment targets.
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