Research Updates
Major Report on Public Health Dimensions of Epilepsy Commissioned - CURE Chair Susan Axelrod’s testimony at the  January 10, 2011 Institute of Medicine’s “The Public Health Dimensions of the Epilepsies” public hearing.
This is an awesome responsibility, to speak on behalf of so many patients and loved ones who are desperate for answers to the multi-faceted, complex challenges of epilepsy.
So much work still needs to be done in order to fully understand and treat the whole patient. More often than not, the co-morbidities that so frequently plague our loved ones have an enormous adverse effect on overall health and quality of life—to say nothing of their emotional and financial burden. These other conditions—that can be psychiatric, neuropsychological, neurological, medical, physical or social—require treatment, but are rarely addressed.
To read more: Read the entire article online
Click here for more information: www.iom.edu/Activities/Disease/Epilepsy.aspx
Answers to a Rare and Tragic Form of Epilepsy
A new study offers critical insight into the biochemistry of a rare and fatal form of epilepsy known as Lafora disease, a genetic condition that typically strikes children in their teens.
A new study offers critical insight into the biochemistry of a rare and fatal form of epilepsy known as Lafora disease, a genetic condition that typically strikes children in their teens. The disease is characterized by the buildup of a "wrecked" form of glycogen, a stored form of glucose, in the brain and specifically in neurons. It now appears those errors and the structural problems they cause are all because the enzyme that normally builds glycogen is prone to making mistakes, according to the report in Cell Metabolism.
To read more: Read the entire article online
CURE Grantee Developing Possible Means to Treat Epilepsy
Newswise — Epilepsy research is reaching beyond improving the means for quelling symptoms to the exploration of potential modalities for correcting or reversing alterations in neural function that underlay some forms of the disorder. In research reported at the 64th American Epilepsy Society (AES) Annual Meeting, investigators at the University of Florida have demonstrated that adult human neuronal progenitor cells (AHNPs) generate functional neurons that integrate into host neuronal networks in the cerebral cortex.
To read more: Read the entire article online
Former SAB Member and CURE Grantees Develop Novel Anti-Epilepsy Drug, to Begin Clinical Trials
Madison, Wisconsin - A sugar-like substance used for years in medical imaging is about to be tested in clinical trials to see if it can protect people who suffer from frequent epileptic seizures.
The compound, known as 2-deoxy-D-glucose or 2DG, seems to trick the body into believing there is no sugar available, thus mimicking the effect of a ketogenic or no-sugar diet in reducing seizures. Clinical trials on epilepsy patients are expected to begin in 2010 at the University of Virginia.
To read more: Read the entire article online
NINDS Announces Notice of Intent to Publish a Series of Request for Applications for the NINDS Epilepsy Centers without Walls Program
Request for Information: Scientific and Collaborative Considerations Associated with the NINDS Epilepsy Centers without Walls Program
(NOT-NS-10-020)
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-NS-10-020.html
Notice of Intent to Publish a Series of Request for Applications for the NINDS Epilepsy Centers without Walls Program (U54)
(NOT-NS-10-022)
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-NS-10-022.html
CURE SAB Member Finds that Brain Stimulation Reduces Seizures
Deep brain stimulation reduces the frequency of partial epileptic seizures in patients who don't respond well to medication, researchers said.
In a randomized and blinded trial, electrical stimulation of the anterior nuclei of the thalamus significantly reduced the rate of partial seizures, including secondarily generalized seizures, according to Robert Fisher, MD, PhD, of Stanford University, and colleagues. Dr. Fisher serves on CURE’s Scientific Advisory Board.
To read more: Read the entire article online
New Epilepsy Funding Opportunities at NINDS
We are excited to bring the following announcement to your attention. This is the first RFP to come from the new initiative "Accelerating Research in the Epilepsies,” which we announced last month.
Click here to read more about the NINDS Epilepsies EUREKA Program and the NINDS Cooperative Program in Translational Research for Resistant Epilepsy and Epileptogenesis.
Landmark Clinical Trial for Childhood Absence Epilepsy Fills Large Information Gap
CURE would like to call attention to a landmark clinical trial, which has established an initial drug therapy for childhood absence epilepsy—the most common form of childhood epilepsy. The study—lead by Tracy A. Glauser, MD, director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center—is the largest pediatric epilepsy clinical trial ever funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
To read more: Read the entire article online
Former CURE SAB Member to Study Drug Therapy to Minimize Death and Disability from Traumatic Brain Injury
A clinical trial of a new neuroprotective drug for people with traumatic brain injuries will be offered to patients seen in UC Davis Medical Center’s level-1 trauma center, through an $8 million grant funded by the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program of the U.S. Department of Defense.
To read more: Read the entire article online
CURE Grantee and Former Scientific Advisory Board Member Recipients of Prestigious AES Awards
Drs. Annamaria Vezzani and Thomas Sutula—a CURE grantee and former Scientific Advisory Board member, respectively—are the recipients of two prestigious epilepsy awards, announced at the American Epilepsy Society Annual Meeting, held in Boston in December 2009.
To read more: Read the entire article online
CURE Grantees and Reviewer Receive Funding Through PRMRP
Dr. Jaideep Kapur and Drs. Audrey and Amy Yee have received research awards through the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program, in the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program, Department of Defense. Dr. Kapur has served as a CURE reviewer, and Drs. Yee and Yee are 2009 CURE research award recipients.
To read more: Read the entire article online
Major Breakthrough from CURE Researchers
In a major breakthrough for epilepsy research, drugs known as TGF-beta blockers have been found to prevent epilepsy after brain injury in rats. CURE grantees, Daniela Kaufer, PhD (University of California, Berkeley) and Alon Friedman, MD, PhD (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel)discovered that they could prevent the brain changes leading to epilepsy by treating the animals with a drug that blocks transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) receptors. If the findings are confirmed in humans, the TGF-beta blockers may prevent many cases of epilepsy in accident victims and soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, who are incurring traumatic brain injuries (TBI) in unprecedented numbers.
To read more: Read the entire article online
Significant Finding in Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP)
CURE Scientific Advisory Board member Jeffrey Noebels, MD, PhD and CURE research grant recipient Alica Goldman, MD, PhD, and collaborators have found that the most common gene for a syndrome associated with abnormal heart rhythms and sudden death triggers epileptic seizures and could explain Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy.
To read more about this exciting new discovery: Click here
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