Rong Hu, Jin Luo, Wei Wang, Wang Xuefeng, Xi Zhiqin
Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China.
Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China.
Seizure. 2015 Apr;27:6-9. doi: 10.1016/j.seizure.2015.02.007. Epub 2015 Feb 17.
Intractable epilepsy is a brain disorder characterized by recurrent seizures and intracellular alpha-synuclein (αS) deposits; however, the neurobiological basis of this protein accumulation is still poorly understood. This is the first study aiming to assess whether the increase of αS concentrations in the serum and CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) could serve as a marker for αS deposition in the brain and diagnosis of epilepsy.
This investigation enrolled 67 epileptic patients (40 with intractable epilepsy; 13 with newly diagnosed epilepsy, and 14 with non-intractable epilepsy). CSF and serum samples were collected from each patient and were assessed by ELISA.
It was established that the concentration of αS in the CSF and serum was elevated in the epilepsy patients, as compared to the control. However, the results of the subgroup analysis revealed that levels of αS in the serum and CSF were increased in the intractable epileptic patients (CSF: 11.12 ± 4.18 ng/ml; serum: 52.93 ± 22.11 ng/ml), whereas there was no difference in the groups with the newly diagnosed (CSF: 34.998 ± 14.96 ng/ml; serum: 7.77 ± 3.41 ng/ml) and non-intractable epilepsy (CSF: 8.93 ± 4.83 ng/ml; serum: 34.11 ± 17.53 ng/ml).
Overall, we found that the rise of the αS content in the serum and CSF may facilitate the identification of intractable epilepsy; therefore, the determination of αS rates may serve as a valuable prognostic marker in the clinical assessment.
难治性癫痫是一种以反复发作的癫痫发作和细胞内α-突触核蛋白（αS）沉积为特征的脑部疾病；然而，这种蛋白质积累的神经生物学基础仍知之甚少。这是第一项旨在评估血清和脑脊液（CSF）中αS浓度的增加是否可作为脑部αS沉积和癫痫诊断标志物的研究。
本研究纳入了67例癫痫患者（40例为难治性癫痫；13例为新诊断癫痫，14例为非难治性癫痫）。从每位患者收集脑脊液和血清样本，并通过酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）进行评估。
已确定与对照组相比，癫痫患者脑脊液和血清中αS的浓度升高。然而，亚组分析结果显示，难治性癫痫患者血清和脑脊液中αS水平升高（脑脊液：11.12±4.18 ng/ml；血清：52.93±22.11 ng/ml），而新诊断组（脑脊液：34.998±14.96 ng/ml；血清：7.77±3.41 ng/ml）和非难治性癫痫组（脑脊液：8.93±4.83 ng/ml；血清：34.11±17.53 ng/ml）中无差异。
总体而言，我们发现血清和脑脊液中αS含量的升高可能有助于难治性癫痫的识别；因此，αS水平的测定可作为临床评估中有价值的预后标志物。
