Terrone, Gaetano (2017) New drugs and therapeutic strategies in pharmacoresistant epilepsy. [Tesi di dottorato]

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Item Type: Tesi di dottorato
Resource language: English
Title: New drugs and therapeutic strategies in pharmacoresistant epilepsy
Creators:
Creators
Email
Terrone, Gaetano
gaetanoterrone@virgilio.it
Date: 3 April 2017
Number of Pages: 190
Institution: Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
Department: Scienze Mediche Traslazionali
Dottorato: Medicina clinica e sperimentale
Ciclo di dottorato: 29
Coordinatore del Corso di dottorato (extra):
nome
email
Marone, Gianni
UNSPECIFIED
Tutor:
nome
email
Del Giudice, Ennio
UNSPECIFIED
Vezzani, Annamaria
UNSPECIFIED
Date: 3 April 2017
Number of Pages: 190
Keywords: Epilepsy Neuroinflammation Anti-inflammatory treatments
Settori scientifico-disciplinari del MIUR: Area 06 - Scienze mediche > MED/38 - Pediatria generale e specialistica
Date Deposited: 07 Mar 2018 09:27
Last Modified: 04 May 2020 01:00
URI: http://www.fedoa.unina.it/id/eprint/11922

Collection description

Epilepsy is a brain disorder characterized by an enduring predisposition to generate recurrent epileptic seizures and by the neurobiologic, cognitive, psychological and social consequences of this condition. Current antiepileptic drugs provide symptomatic relief from seizures, have multiple adverse effects, and fail to control seizures in up to 30% of people. This represents a major unmet clinical need. New anti-seizure treatments for epilepsy are unlikely to bridge this treatment gap. In order to develop such drugs, there is the need to understand the pathological processes occurring in the brain of people exposed to epileptogenic injuries, or with an established diagnosis of epilepsy. In this PhD thesis, I pointed my attention on the role of neuroinflammation in the mechanisms of epileptogenesis. Specific inflammatory molecules and pathways have been shown to significantly contribute to the mechanisms of seizure generation and progression in different experimental models. In particular, I have contributed to demonstrate for the first time that targeting oxidative stress with clinically tested drugs, for a limited time window post-injury, significantly delayed the onset of epilepsy, blocked disease progression and drastically reduced spontaneous seizures and long-term pathological consequences (cell loss, cognitive deficit). This intervention may be considered for patients exposed to potential epileptogenic insults as status epilepticus. Drug-induced reduction of oxidative stress prevented disulfide HMGB1 generation, thus highlighting a potential novel mechanism contributing to therapeutic effects. Moreover, my research work provided evidence supporting that monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL) is a new potential target for drug development in epilepsy, in particular for the treatment of drug-refractory status epilepticus (SE). Inhibition of MAGL by a new potent and selective irreversible inhibitor (CPD-4645) protects mice against refractory SE and its therapeutic effects are potentiated by the ketogenic diet. In conclusion, all these experimental data contribute to better clarify the complex mechanisms underlying the pathophysiology of epilepsy, in order to identify new potential therapeutic targets. However, the major challenge will be represented by the translation of these experimental results into clinically effective human therapies.

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