Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and Retrotransposons. Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and Retrotransposons

Idiopathic (cryptogenic) epilepsy is a common, chronic group of brain disorders, affecting 1-2% of the US population, creating a significant public health problem because of the associated morbidity and mortality. One subtype of this complex group of brain disorders, temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), is particularly burdensome, because a substantial fraction of patients do not respond to anticonvulsant medications. If the seizure focus can be localized by imaging and/or EEG, the TLE patient often elects to have a partial resection of the affected temporal lobe, because they have daily seizures, despite multiple pharmacotherapy regimens. Although genetic risk is thought to play a role in TLE, identification of common risk alleles has had limited success. In the past 5 years, data have accumulated to prove that neuronal embryogenesis is accompanied by activation of LINE1 (L1) retrotransposons (RTPs) to an unexpected degree, such that developing neurons may... (for more see dbGaP study page.)