Search

Seizure models have demonstrated that neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration are preponderant characteristics of epilepsy. Considering the lack of clinical studies, our aim is to investigate the extrinsic pathway of apoptosis in pharmacoresistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) associated with hippocampal sclerosis (HS) patients, TLE(HS). By a specific death receptor-mediated apoptosis array plate, 31 upregulated targets were revealed in the sclerotic hippocampus from TLE(HS) patients. Amongst them are the encoding genes for ligands (FASLG,TNF,andTNFSF10) and death receptors (FAS,TNFRSF1A,TNFRSF10A,andTNFRSF10B). In addition, we evaluated the hippocampal relative mRNA expression of the two TNF receptors,TNFRSF1AandTNFRSF1B, in patients, being both upregulated (n=14;P<0.01andP<0.04, resp.) when compared to thepost mortemcontrol group (n=4). Our results have clearly suggested that three different death receptor apoptotic systems may be associated with the maintenance and progression of TLE-associated HS: (1) TNF-TNFRSF1A, (2) FASLG-FAS, and (3) TNFSF10-TNFRSF10A/B. Their effects on epilepsy are still scarcely comprehended. Our study points out to TNF and TNF receptor superfamily pathways as important targets for pharmacological studies regarding the benefits of an anti-inflammatory therapy in these patients.